


Swamped

by NotTasha



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Animals, Blindness, Friendship, Gen, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-16 12:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 39,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4624677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotTasha/pseuds/NotTasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team visits a boggy planet and McKay is blinded by an Ancient Device, giving him a special new type of vision.  There are beasts in the bog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swamped

**Author's Note:**

> SEASON: Season 5  
> DISCLAIMERS: The characters, Atlantis, etc, all belong to Sony, MGM, Gecko, Showtime, the Sci-Fi Channel.   
> SUMMARY: McKay is blinded by an Ancient Device, giving a special new type of vision  
> DATE: Complete December 3rd, 2008

PART 1: BOG

The bog stretched out in all directions on the planet P9H-992. It looked fetid, soupy and terribly moist. A fog clung to the countryside, a miasma that seemed almost alive as it flowed over the endless bleakness. The ground appeared ready to swallow them up at any moment. The air was heavy and stank of long dead things. One could almost taste the decay. The gloom dampened and they trudged through it.

Ronon led, picking a path through the unsettled looking soil, avoiding the large pools that seemed to have hardly any depth, but one ill step might send a soul into murky oblivion. He carried a stick and gauged the earth ahead of them -- tempting it, trying it, assuring that it would hold their weight. In his other hand, he held his blaster ready.

Behind him was Teyla, who kept her gaze moving, scanning the unwelcoming landscape on all sides -- a stretch of spare trees and miserable looking bushes, ponds and pools and murky lakes, hemmed in by a ring of high cliffs.

She paused a moment, thinking she saw something coming through the mist, and gasped when she was bumped from behind.

There was a softly voiced, “Sorry. I wasn’t looking,” from behind her, and she moved forward again, following the path that Ronon had blazed.

Rodney followed her, his head down. He sniffled, clutching his coat against the damp, and watched where he placed his feet, careful to step only where someone had stepped before. His feet sunk in a half-inch or so. The wet, peaty earth would squelch and would make a quiet ‘slurp’ when he pulled his boot loose to take his next step.

Sheppard came last, walking more backward than forward, scanning the land behind them as they moved. He’d given up the lead to Ronon, knowing that the Satedan would have better luck in finding the best trail.

From time to time, a group of frog-like creatures would fire up, filling the air with the shrill noise. They’d die down once the interlopers had passed.

A black-winged bird took flight. The clatter of its large leathery wings broke the strange silence of the place. For a moment they all stopped, transfixed by the bird’s flight and the whine of amphibians. The bird looked like an old coat fluttering on a clothesline. It dipped and rose and dipped and stretched out its talons to perch on the branches of another blighted tree. The frog-like things quieted as the bird stood, wearily, warily, and hunched in its place.

The team kept moving.

John watched the dark spaces under dark brambles. Things moved in that dimness. Little creatures whisked and scurried across the land – too small to worry about being sucked into the muck.

The bird shifted on the branch and ducked its head. Black eyes watched them. The frogs were quiet.

John kept moving backwards as he eyed the bird that eyed him. There was a soulnessness to its gaze as if it had seen everything it had ever needed to see.

Suddenly, John’s foot sunk in deeply. Startled, he fought to keep his balance, shuffled his free leg, fought for footing, and with a sickening sounding squelch, pulled his foot from the quagmire.

The bird blinked at him, hunching on his perch. The frogs said nothing.

“You okay?” Rodney asked. His voice sounded odd after the long silence. The dampness of the air seemed to harden the tone. “Sheppard?” McKay twisted in his spot as if afraid to take his feet from the path that Ronon had forged.

“I’m fine,” Sheppard grunted, frowning at the black sludge that covered him to his knee. “Just fine.” He made an attempt to shake some of the muck off, but it wasn’t going to happen easily. He considered grasping hold of Rodney for support, but the scientist look precarious at that moment.

He wanted to scrape it off, but he’d prefer to keep his hands clean of the dirt. The mud, would, dry, he figured, or fall off without his help.

Teyla glanced toward them, ascertaining that all was well. Ronon hadn’t stopped probing the ground and stepping forward.

With a sharp nod, John ordered, “Keep moving.” Teyla complied.

McKay just looked at him, his expression bleak. “But we’ve been walking over an hour already, and we’re getting nowhere.”

“We’re getting closer,” Sheppard told him. 

Rodney continued, “Not by much! It’s not easy walking in this stuff, you know? And I’m cold. This sort of weather just eats right into me. I’m bound to catch a cold – one heck of a cold.”

“That’s why we need to keep going,” Sheppard stated, keeping his voice even. “Standing still isn’t helping.” When McKay didn’t immediately react, Sheppard stated, “And you’re the one who was all excited about coming here.”

“Secret lab,” Ronon muttered from the front of the line.

“Yes,” McKay snapped back. “A secret lab where the Ancients were working on a way of deterring the Wraith.”

“And they figured a bog would be the perfect place to hide it,” Sheppard grumbled.

“I’m the one who suggested we use a jumper,” McKay countered. “That would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

“The ground won’t support a jumper in that area,” Sheppard returned. “It’ll sink right into this sludge.”

Rodney looked annoyed. “The outpost should be huge,” he muttered. “I don’t understand why we weren’t getting a better reading off the place during our fly over. It must be totally underground, and that means that the landing site should be solid.”

“Well, the sooner we get there the better,” Sheppard replied. “We don’t need to be walking out here, in danger of running into the… what was it called, Ronon?”

“The chubbock,” Ronon reminded.

Ronon and Teyla were both vaguely familiar with the planet, having heard of it often, but neither had visited before. “There is a … beast,” Teyla had told him earlier, with some embarrassment. “A creature that lives in the bog.”

“A bog beast?” Sheppard had tried.

She’d smiled, chagrinned, and told him, “They are tales from childhood, meant to frighten children. Nobody truly believes that the chubbock exists.”

“And what is a… chubbock?” Sheppard had asked, cautiously.

“There used to be a civilization here, up on the cliffs,” Ronon said, nodding to the high lands above them. “Then the chubbock came. It’s fast, taller than as a man.” He held a hand up to his own height – so obviously he meant a ‘big’ man. “Walks upright some of the time. Huge body. Has this pointed snout. Long bare tail. Claws. Lives in the bog. Chews off your face.”

Teyla shook her head, and explained, “It is simply a story told to frighten children,” but she looked a little rattled by Ronon’s descriptions as if she had been one of those frightened children at one point.

“If the people lived up there,” McKay said, pointing. “How did the bog beast get them?”

“There is no game in the highlands,” Teyla explained. “To survive, people needed to enter the bog.”

“They have these on other planets, too?” McKay went on.

Teyla nodded. “Any large swamps has legends. As children, we often believed that a small marsh might even have such a creature, but that was unlikely.”

“Great,” McKay kept his hands on his weapon as he looked about at their surroundings. “And this is the first we’ve heard of these creatures? I’m pretty certain we’ve been near bogs before in our explorations!”

“They are legends,” Teyla went on.

“Just stories,” Ronon added.

Rodney harrumphed, and didn’t look convinced.

“Keep moving, McKay,” Sheppard cut in with a discontented sigh. “We should be there soon.”

McKay faced forward again and looked about nervously. “Bog beast,” he muttered.

“Chubbock,” Ronon said from in front of them, his voice tight.

“Stupid name,” McKay muttered, and gamely tried to catch up to the others in the slurping sloshing swampy bog.

Teyla waited for him and offered him a quiet smile before she turned and continued after Ronon.

Sheppard sighed and followed, keeping an eye on the landscape around them, heading into the fog.

The black bird watched them with black eyes. It watched them until they disappeared into the mist. And then it took flight again, swooping down from its perch in the gloom of the bog.

Something leaped beneath the black bird. The mist and bog and something more substantial swallowed it up  
888888888888888888  
As they trudged onward, Sheppard regarded the time. They had several hours before dark, but they weren’t getting anywhere fast. They’d had to make two lengthy backtracks when they’d ended up surrounded by water.

The fog was settling in, getting thicker around them and reducing visibility. Sheppard hated it. If something was out there, he wouldn’t be able to see it until the last moment.

Around them, things schlomped and burbled. Something splashed and something went ploink. Sometimes the frogs started singing and the air was filled with their shrill voices. Sometimes they trudged through a section of particularly foul smelling earth that made them clamp their mouths shut against it.

Rodney sighed loudly – again – and sniffled. The Canadian carried his firearm as if he was lugging an armload of firewood. After another snuffle, the scientist asked, “I hate to ask, but… are we there yet?”

Ronon grumbled. “No,” he said tersely.

“How about dry land?” Rodney went on, a whine in his voice as he squelched onward. “I know my boots are never going to be the same. I bet they rot right out from under me, and you just know I’m going to get some sort of awful foot fungus from all this moisture and NONE of you get to complain if I end up with some horrible funk when I take off my shoes.”

“No,” Ronon said again, his voice a low growl.

“No?” Rodney shot back, not knowing how to take that.

“No sign of dry land,” Ronon ground out.

“Oh,” McKay replied and kept walking in that same disconsolate trod. “I’m just sayin’, it’ll be nice to get out of this stuff.”

“Yeah,” Sheppard replied because he figured he had to say something.

“No sign of the… the bog beast thing, right?” McKay asked tentatively.

“Not yet,” Sheppard responded.

“Good,” McKay stated. His voice grew high as he started, “You really think we’re going to…”

“We’re not going to see it,” Sheppard reassured mechanically as he scanned the misty surroundings. “We’re going to be fine.”

“Good, good…” McKay responded. “Because that would be… good… if we never see the thing.” And he sighed again, loudly. “If we could just stop for a bit and rest though…”

“Yeah,” Ronon suddenly proclaimed as he tossed down his pack. Amazingly, it didn’t sink.

“Yeah, what?” Rodney called.

“We’re here,” Ronon stated.

“I thought you said that we were…” McKay started, but Sheppard shoved past him, eager to get to the firm ground.

“Thank God,” Sheppard muttered, stomping a foot and happy to find it didn’t shake like gelatin beneath him. Clods of mud dropped from his leg.

“We’re here!” McKay said with a sigh. "Finally!"

Sheppard turned around slowly, taking in the sights. In the mist and the fog, the Ancient structures didn’t look that different from the trees. Here and there stood a little shelter, an alcove, an obelisk.

It was hardly impressive.

Rodney pulled his data tablet from his back and gamely began punching at it, pausing to stretch and manipulate his fingers. “I can barely work my hands,” he grumbled.

“Just get it done,” Sheppard ordered as he moved through the foggy structures. They’d flown over earlier with the jumper, and mapped the area – finding little of interest. They’d hoped that there’d be more to see once they were amongst the structures.

Apparently not.

They were standing on a shelf of rock – solid ground in the morass. Maybe there was a facility built into this stone and McKay only needed to figure out the key to let them in.

“I found something,” McKay uttered happily. Sheppard turned as Rodney popped open a panel. The scientist grinned.

“Good,” Sheppard responded. “Open up the secret door and let us in.”

“Patience, patience,” McKay responded as he examined the controls. His eyebrows knitted as he watched Sheppard step closer. “Aren’t you supposed to be keeping an eye out for that bog monster thing? We really need a couple of guys watching out for that, because, well, nobody wants to have their eyes eaten by a bog monster.”

“I assure you,” Teyla repeated, “The chubbock does not exist.” She stood beside the scientist, ready to help him with his work, ready to protect him if any mythological beast drew near.

“Yeah, well… just give me some room here, okay?” McKay said. “I have to figure out how to read this monitoring device.”

Since McKay and Teyla seemed to have the technical things under control, Sheppard turned to the fog. He could see nothing – just different gradients of gray. The mist was chilly, his clothing was damp, and his leg was wet with bog water. His shoes were soaked. Last thing he wanted to do was spend much more time on the surface of this unpleasant place. “You about done?” Sheppard asked.

“Come on!” McKay responded sharply. “I just got started here.”

“I could have a look at it if you want,” Sheppard said slyly.

“No, no, you just keep watch for scary things. I’m going to see if… oh!” Rodney made a happy exclamation. “There we go.”

Sheppard glanced to McKay who was grinning brightly at Teyla. “Ah-ha!” The panel was alight and McKay leaned closer to it as he continued his examination.

“Almost done?” Sheppard asked.

“Give me a minute!” McKay shot back.

“Okay, you get a minute.” Sheppard turned his back on the pair so that he could watch area. After a moment, he dropped his gaze to check the time.

There was a piercing zzzzttt and everything went white.

A bright, piecing white.

PART 2: CHUBBOCK

Sheppard dropped to his knees, slinging up one arm up over his eyes to shield them as he reached for his weapon with the other hand. Someone was shouting -- Rodney. It was too bright, too goddamn bright.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he pressed his arm across his face – as he tensed, ready. Every muscle in his body seemed to thrum as the light died.

The tinny buzz stopped and the whiteness fled as quickly as it had started. The shouting continued. His eyes burned. He dropped his arm to find everything blurred. Huge black spots floated, turning his vision into Swiss cheese. Sheppard blinked rapidly as he fought to see. He kept his weapon up and ready.

Behind him, on the other side of the structure, Ronon gritted out, “Sheppard, do you see anything?”

“Nothing,” Sheppard responded, trying to will his vision into working order, wanting to wrestle away the big blank spots. He tipped his head one way, and then the other, trying to see around the gaps. It was maddening! “Ronon! Do you have a target?”

“I got nothing,” Ronon responded tersely. “The light came from behind me.”

“Yeah, me, too. Rodney, Teyla?” Convinced that the attack had come from within the complex, and not from the foggy land beyond, Sheppard turned to face the other two members of his group. There was no sign of further threat.

“I am all right,” Teyla said tightly. Her head was bowed and her eyes squinted. She had Rodney pulled closer to her, his head against her chest.

Rodney had stopped shouting, and was now uttering a quiet keening sound as he pressed his hands to his face as he curled up next to Teyla.

“The light went off directly in his face,” Teyla explained, still unable to truly open her eyes. “I had glanced away, otherwise…” And she stopped speaking as Rodney shuddered.

Sheppard gave the area another look, then crouched down beside them as Ronon drew nearer. “Rodney,” Sheppard called. “Rodney, you okay?” He pressed a hand to his friend’s shoulder. “Come on, buddy, talk to me.” 

It was hard to clearly make out everything. His vision was still so blurred, so burnt out, he could hardly see his teammates.

“Something went wrong!” McKay exclaimed, hands tight to his face. “You’re going to need to shut it down. I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know. We have to get away from it.” He struggled a little to get up as Teyla and Sheppard kept him in place.

Ronon edged closer to the panel. “Doesn’t seem to be active now,” he decided as he narrowed his eyes to slits and tried to look at the thing. “Screen seems dark.”

“It shut down on its own, Rodney,” Sheppard explained. He frowned as McKay lowered his hands to blink rapidly, and then clamp his hands back where they were. “Rodney?” he called.

“I, I don’t think I can see!” Rodney moaned, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. “It hasn’t suddenly turned into night, has it? Because that would be improbable. Can you see okay? Can you see anything? Oh God, I can’t see!”

Sheppard grabbed one of Rodney’s wrists and pulled. “Stop messing with your eyes. You just have to blink a bit more, and your vision will come back. Mine’s getting better already.”

“It hurts,” Rodney hissed as he sat up, pulling away from Teyla.

“Yeah, I know,” Sheppard said sympathetically. “Hurts like a son of a bitch, but it’s getting better. The spots are mostly gone already.”

“Yes, Rodney,” Teyla added. “My vision is improving as well.” But she still squinted.

Ronon had gone back to surveying the area around them. “The spots won’t last,” he stated.

“Yeah?” McKay tried hopefully. He drew back his hands and opened his eyes again. His eyes darted as he blinked rapidly.

“Getting better, right?” Sheppard tried.

“No!” McKay snapped. “No it isn’t.”

“Are you seeing spots? Dark areas?” Teyla tried.

“No!” McKay grumbled. His blue eyes kept moving, not focusing. He turned his head to the fog, and then toward the structure. “It’s just black and …” he winced and closed his eyes tightly. “Flashes.”

“Flashes?” Sheppard repeated.

“Bright lights,” McKay continued. “Lines and flashes, like tracers.” He winced again.

John passed a worried look between Ronon and Teyla. “Rodney,” he said. “Look at me.”

“Did you hear what I just said?” Rodney growled. “I can’t see anything.”

“Turn your head toward my voice,” Sheppard demanded, and then grabbed McKay by the chin to direct his head.

“Hey, you don’t have to be so rough,” McKay complained, keeping his eyes squinted shut.

“Can you keep your eyes open a minute?” Sheppard asked. “I just want to see if there’s any visible damage. You might have something in them.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rodney responded, and blinked a few times before opening his eyes wide for examination. “Don’t touch my eyeballs,” he warned. “Seriously, that would be uncool.”

“I’m not touching anything,” Sheppard promised as he tried to get a good look at Rodney’s eyes, looking for debris or something obviously wrong. It was impossible though. His own vision was still blurred and spotty. Rodney's eyes were red, but that might have been from McKay rubbing them.

Sheppard looked toward Teyla who was squinting at Rodney. She lifted her gaze and him an unsure glance.

Great.

“I don’t see anything wrong,” Sheppard finally voiced. “But, we’d better get you to a doctor.”

“You think?” Rodney snarled, bringing his hands back to his face. Teyla gently, yet firmly countered his movement. He jumped a little when she touched him.

“How long until Atlantis checks in?” Ronon asked.

“Not until after nightfall,” Sheppard said with a sigh – hours away. Someone could walk back to the Gate in that time. He considered their options – sending Ronon back to the Gate for help would mean splitting the team when there was the possibility of a bog beast in the area. Sheppard had learned to listen to the myths of Pegasus.

Anyway, there was no good landing site for the jumper when help did arrive. They’d have to use ropes to get people into the ship.

Sheppard didn’t trust his own sight at that moment. The spots were still there, and too much of his vision was blurred. He figured that Teyla and Ronon were experiencing the same. It would be better if they stayed together. Three sets of flawed vision would be better combined. Perhaps between them, they’d be able to see trouble coming.

They could wait, but he’d rather get Rodney to help as soon as possible.

“Rodney, do you think you can walk?” Sheppard asked casually.

“Walk?” McKay squawked. “Of course I can walk. I hurt my eyes, not my feet.” He grimaced as he suddenly realized something. “Oh,” he sighed. “We’re walking back to the Gate,” he surmised.

“Yeah,” Sheppard responded.

“But I can’t see!” McKay whined. “Seriously, I’m not kidding. It’s really bad.” He blinked at Sheppard and John was damn glad that McKay didn’t know how vulnerable he looked at that moment – with his honest but sightless eyes searching for his friends. All of his fears were laid bare.

“If you’re not hurt otherwise, you should be okay,” Ronon told him. “Worst danger would be falling into the bog. The ponds are pretty deep.”

Rodney looked alarmed, and Sheppard grimaced.

“You’re not going to fall in,” Sheppard assured. “We’ll make sure of it.”

“I don’t have the best balance when I can see,” McKay said softly. “This is really a bad idea.”

Yeah, Sheppard thought. I know. “We better get started,” Sheppard said.

Beside him, Teyla reached into her vest and pulled out a cloth. “Rodney,” she said softly. “I’m going to put something over your eyes to protect them. We don’t know if there is debris or other damage, and I think this might be best. Will that be all right?”

“What?” he turned to her, and she bit her lip a little as his eyes sought her, but never found her. “Okay,” he finally said. “Yeah, good idea.”

Sheppard moved to the edge of the firm ground to stand beside Ronon, not wanting to watch Teyla blindfold their friend.  
888888888888888888  
The trip back toward the Gate was quicker than the journey out. They followed the path they had blazed earlier – finding their footsteps flooded and disappearing into the bog. Sheppard led, his vision being the best of the group. He had been lucky enough to be looking down when the flash had gone off, and avoided much of the fog’s reflection.

Ronon followed, with Rodney directly behind him. The blindfolded scientist was tied to Ronon by a rope around both of their waists, an assurance that he wouldn’t be falling into any of the lakes that dotted the area. Teyla kept Rodney corralled at the tail of the group. Rodney muttered and grumbled as he was alternately yanked by the cord or nearly ran over Ronon as the mud caused everyone to walk at an uneven pace.

Rodney would sometimes murmur a “sorry” when he ran into Ronon and other times groan an exasperated “big oaf!”

In spite of being nearly ‘flat tired’ a dozen times, Ronon was amazingly stoic about his part in the ordeal, and simply kept them moving forward, watching the surrounding countryside.

They moved as quickly as they could. They were lucky that the land was so featureless. There were neither rocks nor roots to bar their path, and so there was little to trip up Rodney – although he’d fallen to his knees more than once when he lost his footing.

He’d swear and blame Ronon or Sheppard, and moan about how unfair it was. Teyla would help him to his feet and then they’d keep moving – trying to get back to Atlantis as quickly as they could manage.

Yeah, it was unfair, Sheppard thought. But what else could they do? It wasn’t as if Ronon could carry McKay all the way back, especially when the man was ambulatory. He doubted that either of them would have appreciated the suggestion.

Their best bet was to get home quickly, get out of this miserable place and have Keller check on Rodney’s eyes. And certainly, Rodney was going to be okay. Everyone else was getting better, weren’t they?

John squinted at the fog, and was pleased to discover that the spots were nearly gone from his vision. He blinked and was certain the blurriness was better. With a grin, he stopped and turned to face Ronon.

The Satedan halted, and regarded the colonel. Before he could ask the question, there was a thud as Rodney crashed into the back of the big man.

“Warn a guy!” Rodney cried as he sloshed in the muck.

Sheppard met Ronon’s glance, and then looked to Teyla. Both seemed to greet him with clearer eyes. Yes, they were getting better.

From behind Ronon, Rodney whined, “Are we there yet?”

“Getting closer,” Ronon told him. “Should be seeing the Gate soon.”

“See… yeah, some of you will be seeing it,” Rodney mumbled.

“How are you feeling, Rodney?” Teyla asked to distract him. She drew closer to his side.

“Tired and cold and wet and hopelessly blind,” Rodney grumbled. “This sucks. Have I mentioned how much this sucks?” He held tightly to the cord that bound him to Ronon as if he was afraid to lose it. “When I started my day, I didn’t expect it to end with me being led through a cesspool on a string. Do any of you have any idea of how hard it is to walk through this stuff when you can’t see anything? It takes concentration! Lots of concentration.”

“Are you still seeing the flashes of light?” Teyla asked him. “Does it still hurt?”

Rodney seemed to think for a moment, and then shook his head. “No. The flashes are gone. And my head – not hurting so much.” He twisted a grin. “Good sign, right? Hey, are you guys seeing better?”

“Yeah,” Ronon admitted.

“Yes, my vision has improved,” Teyla told him.

“Great! Then, I can get rid of this, right?” Rodney fumbled for the blindfold with one hand.

Teyla stilled his movement, getting a flinch from Rodney again. She winced a little in commiseration, sorry that she had startled him. “You had best leave it in place until Dr. Keller has seen you.”

“But it would make things a lot easier if I could see where we were going,” Rodney continued. “And since the rest of you are getting better, then it’s only logical that I’m better, too.” He smiled then, looking damn pleased with himself.

“We’re almost to the Gate, Rodney. And what we’re doing seems to work,” Sheppard said with a sigh.

“For you it works,” Rodney grumbled. “You’re not the one being pulled through the blackness by an ox. No offense.”

Ronon grunted.

Rodney went on happily, “There’s no reason for this.” And he jammed a thumb at his blindfold.

“Leave it be. I don’t like those flashes that you were seeing. You might have some damage to your retina or something.”

The glee fled Rodney’s face. “You think?” he asked, sounding lost. A hand reached toward his face and dropped. “Do you think it’s serious? I’ve always been so careful about my sight. Never played hockey because I heard about a kid in another town who had his cornea scratched by a hockey stick.”

Sheppard closed his eyes a moment. “It’s probably nothing, Rodney. Like you said, the rest of us are better now. We just want to err on the side of caution, so just leave the blindfold alone for now.”

“Yeah, yeah. Good idea.” Rodney’s hands fidgeted at his side. “Almost home, so might as well just keep going. So, let’s go, huh?”

“Yeah,” Ronon said, his voice low. “Let’s move. Something’s out there.”

“What?” Rodney shot back.

“Out there,” Ronon stated, his voice a hiss. He pointed into the fog.

Sheppard followed where Dex had indicated. “I don’t see anything. Just fog and bog and logs.” He smiled a little at the rhyme. “At least we haven’t seen any more frogs.”

“Give it a rest,” Rodney grumbled.

“Let’s go for a jog,” Sheppard went on cheerfully, but the smile quickly fell as he saw something move. “Damn!”

Teyla reached for her weapon.

“What is it? What?” Rodney cried, turning toward Ronon when he heard the sound of the blaster powering up.

It moved, scudding the bog, and then it submerged. Ronon aimed, but didn’t fire.

“What's happening?” Rodney asked again. “I’m in the dark here!”

“Keep moving,” Ronon ordered.

“Wouldn’t it be better to stay and fight?” Sheppard asked.

“We’re in its territory,” Ronon responded. “It has the advantage. We have to get to dry ground”

“What? What?” Rodney shot back, turning his head this way and that. “It’s that bog beast, isn’t it?” he asked in Teyla’s direction, but the Athosian’s gaze was on their surroundings.

“The Gate should be just ahead. The soil turns to rock,” Ronon went on. “Once we’re on the rock we’ll have a chance.”

“Against what?” Rodney moaned. “What’s happening?”

“Let’s move,” Sheppard responded, nodding to Ronon to let him take the lead.

“Move it, McKay,” Ronon ordered, grabbing McKay’s arm.

Teyla came alongside, grabbing Rodney’s other elbow to hurry him as he tottered and fought with the gooey surface of the planet. Sheppard fell in behind.

“What is it?” McKay demanded again, his voice rising in irritation and fear.

“There is something out there,” Teyla told him, her voice low.

“Yes, I got that much,” McKay grumbled. “What do you think is out there? Teyla?” Rodney called, his voice a quiet plea. He turned his blindfolded face toward her as they jogged.

“We saw a shape in the bog,” she explained. “We have not yet seen the creature and we are not sure what it is.”

“But it might be that bog beast?” Rodney continued, stumbling a little as his toes caught in the mud.

Teyla and Ronon kept their grasp of his arms, tugging him along and keeping him steady. 

“It is possible,” she told him. “There are other creatures that live in the bog: the tambire, the udloo, the mackett. It could be any of those.”

“But we’re running,” McKay said. “It can’t be good.”

Teyla didn’t respond, continuing to keep him moving.

Sheppard kept close behind them, glancing about as he moved through the fog, trying to catch sight of the thing again. A hidden enemy is a hundred times worse than one that is in the open. He hated not being able to see the thing.

Somewhere near them, the bog undulated. Little froglike voices put up a sudden chorus.

They ran. “Don’t let me fall, don’t let me fall,” Rodney chanted as he galumphed through the swampy ground.

The ground squished. Rodney stumbled. He shot out one hand and steadied himself against Ronon , gaining his balance. He let out a sigh at his success.

The frogs’ cries stopped as if someone had cut off the high strings in a horror movie. Ronon stopped, causing Rodney to run past and get swung around by the rope as Teyla let go.

“What the hell?” Rodney cried as he staggered. He fell to his knees as he tried to find Teyla again.

The Athosian drew her weapon and lifted it to the shadow behind them.

Sheppard kept his P90 on the shape that lunged from the bracken.

Ronon fired, but the beast ducked, avoiding the beam of the powerful weapon. They saw little more than its whitish pointed snout and a big hunched body before it plunged into the soupy mess beside them. A long and hideous bare tail slapped the surface before it disappeared.

With one quick movement, Ronon grabbed McKay’s arm and yanked him to his feet and into movement.

Still disoriented, Rodney let out a flustered, “Hey! What the hell was that?”

“Run!” Ronon demanded. Sheppard and Teyla fell in behind.

John could hear the thing – something slapping and slopping near them. He held his weapon ready, and when the thing came into sight again, he fired.

It was fast, plunging back into the mud and muck before he had a chance to truly target it. The fog worked against them, and the creature seemed well aware of this fact, using it for cover. It melted away.

Ronon and Rodney were pulling ahead of them. Teyla and John struggled to catch up as the muck pulled at their boots. Rodney fell once or twice, but never hit the ground as Ronon kept hold of him.

They ran as the thing moved around them. When something showed itself, Sheppard fired. He hit a bird on one attempt, and something that looked like a marmot, but the bog beast – which looked a little too much like a possum – eluded him.

Ahead of them, Ronon suddenly stopped, turning abruptly and swinging Rodney around with him. Rodney stumbled, confused, and simply hung on. Teyla and Sheppard ran alongside a pond, and they watched the surface, waiting for another attack.

Sheppard kept up his pace, breathing hard as ran over the impossible soil that kept trying to un-shoe him.

He could feel his heel coming up, pulling away from his boot, and Sheppard paused, getting a better grip with his toes to pull free, but the boot wouldn’t budge.

He turned to release himself, and looked at the pinkish clawed paw gripped his foot. The creature was huge and hideous. Its mouth opened, showing sharp needlelike teeth. Red eyes gleamed and the thing hissed.

He brought his weapon around sharply to fire into the thing’s head, but Teyla was already beside him.

It flinched as Teyla’s P90 tore into the its hide, and disappeared almost instantly into the muck, releasing its hold on Sheppard’s foot.

The second he was free, the pair ran, tearing toward Ronon and Rodney who waited for them – Ronon with his blaster held ready. Rodney ducked, raising his hands above his head as he waited an unexpected attack.

Ronon’s gaze raked the surface of the bog, and when Sheppard reached them, Dex said, “Didn’t have a clear shot.”

“Figured as much,” Sheppard responded, and then exhaled as his feet hit solid ground. He never thought he’d feel so happy to be standing on rocks again.

“The Gate should be just over there,” Ronon said, nodding to some location behind him. “The chubbock won’t come onto the rocks if it can help it.” He glanced to Teyla. “And I think it’s going to want to steer clear of us for awhile.”

“Then let’s get the hell out of here,” Sheppard stated and turned to Rodney. 

The scientist hadn’t said anything to them, which was strange in most situations, but understandable when the man didn’t know what was going on. He still cringed, covering his head.

“Hey, Rodney. We got away from it,” Sheppard explained.

“Good, good,” Rodney huffed.

“Hell of a thing,” Sheppard said. “Put up a good fight, but we put up a better one.”

“We were lucky,” Ronon countered.

Rodney straightened slowly, and cocked his head as if listening for it. “So it’s gone?”

“Teyla got a couple of good shots into it,” Sheppard explained.

Ronon shrugged. “Won’t be enough. They’re tough. Probably just hiding right below the surface.”

Sheppard sighed. “Which is why we need to get away from the edge of the bog. Let’s move out.”

Rodney nodded, and then grumbled, “This place totally sucks.”

“Yeah, literally,” John replied.

Ronon was still scanning the bog, ready if the thing came at them again. He gave a curt nod and they started moving again. Sheppard stayed beside McKay, helping to guide him. He sliced the rope that had bound Rodney to Ronon.

“What did you do?” Rodney asked when the rope went slack.

“I cut the rope,” Sheppard told him. “We don’t have to do the single file thing anymore. We're on the rocks, so we don’t have to worry about falling into the swamp.”

“Oh,” Rodney replied, and then he asked, “What did it look like, the bog monster?”

“I swear to God, the thing looked like a giant possum,” Sheppard told him.

Rodney raised his head, his mouth twisting as he considered what Sheppard had said. He was probably trying to figure out if Sheppard was joshing him, but unable to see his expression had to figure that Sheppard was telling him the truth. “Possums skeeve me out,” Rodney said in a low voice.

“Yeah, me too,” Sheppard said.

“But how bad could a bog possum be?” McKay went on, trying to psych himself up. “Sure, they look weird as hell, but what do they do beside freak you out by suddenly appearing out of the darkness?”

“Probably mostly harmless.” Sheppard figured it would be best to keep any descriptions of the thing to a minimum. “Come on, let’s go home. The sooner we get off this planet, the better.”

“It’s just so weird, being unable to see anything. Everything is strange. I…” he stumbled a little, but Sheppard kept him from falling. “I really hate this.”

“I can imagine,” Sheppard responded, not wanting to imagine.

“It’s like my worst nightmare. Well, not my worst, but pretty darn close!” He frowned a little. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever had a nightmare where I’m blind and trying to escape space possums before. Ow!” He stumbled as he tripped on some rocky protuberance. He hopped a moment, and turned to Sheppard, accusing, “You’re supposed to be watching out for me!”

“I am,” John insisted. “I didn’t let you fall.”

“I very nearly fell!”

With a sigh, Sheppard changed the subject, “Let’s go see Keller. I’m betting things are a lot better now with your eyes. You’re not seeing any more flashes right?”

Rodney paused, turning his head.

“What?” Sheppard asked him, recognizing something in Rodney’s stance.

“That’s just the thing. The flashes had stopped, but they’re back again.” He gestured vaguely with one hand as if trying to catch them.

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” John tried, not believing it.

“Gate should be just around that bunch of trees,” Ronon told them and they moved a little further until Rodney suddenly pulled up short, grimacing.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sheppard asked.

“Head hurts,” Rodney responded. He reached one hand to touch the side of his head. “Gah. The flashes are getting stronger.”

“We’re almost there.” Ronon told him.

“Well, let’s go,” Rodney grumbled, rubbing at his head. “Because this really bites and I’m fed up with it.”

“Suck it up an inch and get moving,” Sheppard stated, trying to break Rodney’s mode. He gave McKay a smile, only to let it fall when he realized Rodney couldn’t see it.

They moved, but with each step, Rodney seemed to curl up a little more, clutching both hands to his head.

“Flashes?” Sheppard asked.

“Yeah,” Rodney responded. “Getting really bright.”

The Gate came into view. Sheppard nodded to Teyla. “Dial it,” he ordered. She took off toward the DHD. “We’re here, Rodney. We just have to get home.”

“Yeah,” Rodney said again through gritted teeth. “Almost there.” But he was moving slowing – barely inching forward. His face was taut with pain as he continued to hunch.

Ronon came alongside and grabbed hold of one arm. Rodney let out a little ‘eep’ of surprise, and then let Ronon lead him as Teyla dialed.

They were nearly to the Gate when Rodney whispered, “Oh God.” His legs gave out. He crumbled. Ronon’s firm grasp kept him from hitting the ground.

“Rodney?” Sheppard called as Teyla finished the dialing sequence.

McKay was gasping, his face pale as he clutched at his head. When the wormhole engaged, he let out a final groan and went limp.

“Damn it,” Sheppard exhaled. “McKay? Rodney? Can you hear me?”

Ronon didn’t wait. He easily slung Rodney over one shoulder, waiting only long enough for Teyla to get clearance from Atlantis before he sprinted through the event horizon. Teyla and Sheppard followed close behind.

PART 3: BLIND

John made his way into the infirmary, pausing when he found it quiet. No one seemed to be about. He scanned the room and quickly spotted what he was after.

Rodney sat upright in his bed. His head was bowed, his eyes downcast and his arms tightly crossed over his chest. He was alone and the utter picture of dejection.

He lifted his head for a moment as if he’d heard something, and Sheppard saw the loneliness and the apprehension of his expression. Eyes blinked and Rodney dipped his head again.

Sheppard silently berated himself for taking so long to return, and called out, “Hey, McKay,” before he walked further into the infirmary. Rodney’s head shot up. Eyes sought, but never found him. “It’s me, Sheppard.”

Rodney grimaced. “Well, of course,” he snapped. “I can hear you.”

“How are you doing?” Sheppard asked, because he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“How do you think?” Rodney responded with a snap. “I’m blind.”

Sheppard sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Yeah, and not only am I sightless,” McKay went on, “but I’m trapped in the infirmary. I may as well be chained to my bed. And then, everyone leaves! I can’t do anything. Nobody even bothered to get me my laptop, not that I can use it right now.” The arms tightened at his chest. “I’m bored out of my mind.”

“You? Bored? I thought you liked the chance to just sit and think.”

“Not when it’s forced upon me. Not like this.”

Sheppard sat down in the chair next to his bed and regarded his friend in silence for a moment. Rodney stared out into nothingness, his brow furrowed with a continuing headache.

Rodney turned slowly toward him. “If you’re doing something over there, I can’t see it,” he commented glumly.

“I’m just sitting,” Sheppard countered. “Sitting here to keep you company.”

“Sitting silently isn’t going to cut it. What are you doing over there? Pantomimes? How do you plan to entertain me?”

“Well,” Sheppard admitted. “I haven’t figured that out yet. Where are Keller and the rest of them? Last time I looked in, there was a whole bunch of doctors around you. Dr. Gupta was going at you.”

Rodney tightened his arms at his chest. “She’s pigheaded! Kept wanting me to perform the same worthless tests over and over again, in spite of the fact that they gave the exact same result every time. How pointless is that? I don’t know how many times she said, ‘can you see the light’? Of course I can see a light. I see lights and lines all around me! I just can’t see anything real.” He sighed. “She must have shone that penlight into my eyes fifty times and I never saw it.”

“Where’d Keller, Gupta and the rest go?”

Rodney sighed. “They’re in conference, trying to figure me out.”

“Good luck. I don’t think anyone will ever figure you out,” Sheppard said with what he’d hoped was a joking tone.

Rodney snorted in response.

Rodney had awakened shortly after they’d brought him to the infirmary – disoriented, with a horrible headache and still bafflingly blind.

Jennifer had brought in the expedition’s optometry specialist, had performed brain scans, neurological exams and other tests, trying to determine what had happened. There was no noticeable damage to the scientist’s eyes, but the scans had revealed that his brain was no longer listening to his eyes.

There was no good explanation for it.

And they'd discovered no reason for the lights that continued to plague him – bright ‘neon’ lines that made Rodney wince. The medical team had been stymied and had left to confer about the possibilities – leaving Rodney alone for the first time since it had happened.

“Do you think I’ll get super hearing?” Rodney asked, fluttering a hand at one side of his head. “That always seems to happen in the movies. It just seems like in any movie where someone goes blind, they’re suddenly hearing individual raindrops, and conversations from two rooms down. They can tell tiny differences in scents, sounds, touch.”

“I don’t know,” Sheppard replied, then added, “I think people because more sensitive because they’re paying better attention. Nothing ‘super’.”

“Oh,” Rodney said with a sigh, letting his hand fall. “I guess it’s a blessing that I don’t get ‘super smelling’. I mean, I do have to be around Ronon from time to time.” He stiffened suddenly and asked in a worried voice, “He’s not here, is he?”

Sheppard smiled at that reaction, but the smile fell as Rodney's sightless eyes roamed. “If he was here, you’d know it. He wouldn’t let you get away with that comment.”

“Yeah,” Rodney responded as he turned his head away.

“Besides, you smell kinda ripe yourself.”

“It’s the bog!” Rodney returned. “I haven’t had a chance to wash up properly yet. I need a good bath and that’s not going to happen while I’m here.” He let out a long sigh, “And I don’t think I’m ever going to stop having nightmares about that bog beast.”

“You didn’t even see what it looked like,” Sheppard stated.

“And that makes it much, much worse.” McKay tapped the side of his head. “My mind is an impressive piece of equipment. Imagine the horrors I can construct using just the sounds and your terrible description of the thing.”

“Well,” Sheppard drawled, and then tried, “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Right,” Rodney replied with a click of his tongue. His head bowed again and they sat in silence for a moment. Finally, Rodney said softly, “They don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Sheppard watched as Rodney slowly turned toward him again. Those familiar blue eyes looked strange as they failed to focus as they looked beyond him.

“They’ll figure it out,” Sheppard promised.

After a moment, Rodney closed his eyes and pressed his hands to his face. “They’d better do it soon,” he muttered. “I can’t do anything like this. My whole world is visual. How can I use my laptop?” his voice raised a little with that question. “And yes, I know there are programs to help the blind use the computer, but have you ever tried to use that narrator software? It’s horrendous! And even if I were able to find an adequate version that could keep up with me,” and he paused a moment. “How could that possibly work when I’m trying to translate Wraith and Ancient and Genii? How’s that going to work for me when I’m trying to reroute power or increase the efficiency of the desalinization plant or save the city at a moment’s notice?”

“They will figure it out,” John assured quickly. He wanted something fixable, something that could be saved or corrected or just blown up. He hated trying to come up with reassurances when there were none to be had.

Jennifer suddenly entered the room, with the rest of her staff dispersing behind her. Sheppard watched them, noting the way that the other doctors glanced toward Rodney and then looked away. They seemed disturbed and regretful as they quickly and quietly left the room.

Rodney turned his head toward them, frowning.

“Rodney, it’s me. Jennifer,” Keller said as she approached, and Rodney sat up. She went on, “How are you feeling?”

“Blind. Very blind,” Rodney responded. “Have you figured out how to bring back my sight?”

“We’re still working on that,” Jennifer explained as she met Sheppard’s gaze.

“See, told you,” Sheppard stated. “They’ll take care of this Rodney. No worries.”

She gave him a grateful look before returning her attention to Rodney. “How’s your headache?”

“Miserable,” Rodney replied.

“You’re still seeing the flashes of light?” she asked.

“They’re more distinct than ever,” Rodney told her. “But they’re solid lines now.” He cocked his head. “And glowing orbs and bright shapes. Everything else is black.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “And the lines are still there if I close my eyes. It’s awful.”

From her pocket, Jennifer withdrew a bottle. “I’ve prescribed some pain killers,” she said. “I want you to take two if the pain gets too bad. No more than eight in one day.” She shook the bottle so that the pills rattled, and said. “Put out your hand.”

McKay frowned, but did as he was told. She placed the bottle in his palm. “You didn’t put a child-proof top on it, did you?” Rodney asked.

“I hate those,” Sheppard said.

“No childproof lid,” Jennifer assured as she moved the table away from Rodney’s bed.

Rodney listened to her movements and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Getting you out of this place,” she told him, and smiled. “I think you’d be more comfortable in your own quarters, where you know where everything is.”

Rodney’s mouth quirked as he jammed the bottle into a pocket.

“Come on, Rodney,” Sheppard said. “Let’s take a walk. You can go to your room, take that bath and get some sleep. After that, you can figure out what you want to do.”

“Oh, okay…” Rodney didn’t move.

“What are you waiting for?” Sheppard asked.

Rodney lowered his voice and asked, “How do I get to my room?” 

Sheppard closed his eyes a moment at the quietly voiced question. “What do you think? I’ll go with you,” he stated. “Won’t let you run into a wall or anything.”

“Gee, thanks,” Rodney replied, pulling back the blanket and tentatively swung his feet over the edge.

“I have some slippers here for you,” Jennifer said, pressing the mentioned items into Rodney’s hand. “Your boots were kind of… well, caked with mud.”

“You can clean them tomorrow,” Sheppard told him, “after the mud has become good and dried on.”

Rodney fumbled with the slippers, managing to get them on the right feet somehow.

When Jennifer realized that John was looking at her, she turned to him and put on a resolved expression. “I believe he’ll be more comfortable in his own room. He gets rather grumpy if left in the infirmary for too long.”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Rodney asked.

“Not as grumpy as you,” Jennifer said lightly, and Rodney frowned, obviously not sure how to take her statement.

Rodney sat a moment, and then asked in Jennifer’s direction, “Do I look okay?”

“You look fine,” she assured him.

“I was covered with bog juice when I got here and only had a sponge bath to get it all off,” he went on.

“You used the shower,” Jennifer reminded him with a sigh, pointing toward the infirmary’s restroom, but let her hand drop as she remembered he couldn’t see the gesture.

“It’s not a real shower,” Rodney grumbled. “It’s one of those handheld shower things. How am I supposed to use something like that when I can’t see where I’m pointing it? I probably hosed off more of the room than myself.”

“You’re clean,” Jennifer told him. “At least, clean enough to walk to your room.”

“At least you’re cleaner than when you got here,” Sheppard told him.

Rapidly, McKay ran his hands over his hair as if to straighten it. “I’m wearing scrubs?” he confirmed as he dropped his hands and touched his clothing.

“Yes, you’re wearing pink scrubs with kitties on them,” Sheppard told him.

Rodney looked aghast, turning in Jennifer’s direction. “How could you do that to me? What were you thinking? That is totally unfair!”

Jennifer laughed lightly, saying, “He’s kidding you, Rodney. They’re blue.” And then, with a smile added, “But they do have fire trucks on them.”

Rodney seemed to consider this.

Sheppard reached out and settled a hand on Rodney’s arm, trying to ignore the little jerk of surprise. “Let’s get moving,” he said. “Jennifer needs the bed for sick people.”

Rodney took a moment to find his balance, before he sighed and said, “Could we take the ‘back way’ to my room? I really don’t want to be seen shuffling through the halls by my entire staff wearing pajamas.”

“I’d hope that they’re wearing pajamas,” Sheppard commented, purposefully misinterpreting him. “Most of them are asleep. It’s almost midnight.”

“Really?” Rodney replied. “Huh. I didn’t know.”

“Come on, let’s get moving,” Sheppard commanded. “It’s late and I want to get to my quarters, too.”

“Oh, okay,” McKay responded.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jennifer told him, sounding as if she genuinely wanted to do so.

“Yeah, yeah,” was Rodney’s response as he reached out an arm to feel the way. Sheppard took it and started guiding him.

“He says, he can’t wait to see you again,” Sheppard told Jennifer. "He'll be back in the morning." Which gained a sputtering confirmation from Rodney and another laugh from Jennifer. 

“Seriously, fire trucks?” McKay tried to confirm.

“They were out of the Batman print,” Sheppard told him.

Rodney looked dejected for a moment, and then turned toward Jennifer.

“Kidding! He’s kidding you again, Rodney,” she called.

“Sure, tease the blind man,” Rodney grumbled.

“Just keep moving,” Sheppard told him.

John moved slowly, making sure that Rodney wasn’t getting overwhelmed, ensuring that Rodney wasn’t going to run into a wall. After a few steps, they gained more confidence and John brought Rodney to a quicker pace.

Not bad. They were moving along nicely.

“This whole situation is insane,” Rodney continued to complain as they walked. “What the hell was that light for anyway?”

“What light?” Sheppard asked.

“The light that blinded me,” Rodney returned incredulously. “What else would I be talking about?”

“Oh, I thought you were talking about those blinky lights that you’ve been seeing.”

“They don’t really blink,” Rodney told him. “But they kind of throb. They’re like neon lights everywhere. Weird as hell.”

“Yeah, weird.”

“But that blinding light, why do you think it was there?”

Sheppard shook his head. “I have no idea, Rodney. It was a crappy thing.” He kept one hand under Rodney’s elbow, doing little more than touching him now as they moved down the hall. “Something just went horribly wrong.”

“I didn’t mess it up,” the Canadian insisted. “I was trying to activate the device. It didn’t overload. I didn’t set off a security system.” He gestured as he walked. “It was as if that thing was designed to do exactly what it did. The monitor was situated so that I had to lean into it to see. What the hell?”

Sheppard guided McKay rather effortlessly as he listened. “You think so? You think it was just being a bastard? Like some sort of Ancient ‘punking’?”

Rodney shook his head. “Seemed like a poor idea if it was just meant to piss off a group, and blind one person in their party. I admit that the Ancients were total ass hats sometimes, but they did everything with a purpose.”

“But why?” Sheppard questioned.

“That’s the big question,” Rodney said with a sigh, and took a turn when they reached a crossroad. He came to a quick halt when Sheppard released his hold. “What? Where’d you go?”

Sheppard stood, stunned. “How did you know to turn there?” he asked.

“You’re the one guiding me,” Rodney remarked.

“You turned on your own,” Sheppard said definitively. “I was going to take you straight through.”

“But that direction would have brought me past the mess hall. I wanted to go the back way.”

“Yeah, I remember now. Jeez, you aren’t kidding when you say that you know Atlantis like the back of your hand.”

“I know how to get to my room.”

“But you knew exactly where to turn.”

“You must have paused,” Rodney said. “Unconsciously or something.”

“Seriously, Rodney,” Sheppard went on. “I was going straight through. I wasn’t even thinking of going this way.”

Rodney frowned and then tipped back his head. He turned slowly.

“What’s up?” Sheppard asked, ready to step forward and keep Rodney from running into a wall, but he managed the turn without any trouble.

Holding out one hand, Rodney brought it around slowly. He took a step forward to lightly touch a control panel on the wall. He withdrew his hand quickly.

Sheppard smiled slightly. “That’s pretty cool, Rodney. How’d you do it?”

“I can see,” McKay said in a whisper.

“Wait a minute. You can see?” Sheppard reiterated, his voice rising hopefully. “You mean it’s cleared up?”

“Everything is black.” Rodney’s voice remained low. “Except for those lines, the dots and glowing things.” He turned his head toward John, his gaze not really meeting anything. “But, it’s clear now – or at least clear than it was. It’s like a blueprint, like I’m standing in a schematic.”

Sheppard watched him carefully. “What are you saying, Rodney?”

Rodney swallowed slightly and gave a little nod. “I can see Atlantis.”

PART 4: SIGHT  
“Do you have any decent civvies? What’s up with these pants? Seriously, McKay, you shouldn’t wear these things. Do you have any idea how you look in them? Where do you shop? Value Village? Do they have those up there in Canada? If your wardrobe is an indication, they have a seriously bad selection. What the hell is this?” Sheppard rustled through his clothing drawers and apparently left something stacked on his dresser.

McKay listened as Sheppard moved things in the room, adjusting a table, sliding his desk chair into place, shoving some things across the floor. “I’m just straightening a bit,” Sheppard told him. “I’m sure you know where everything is, but I'm just getting a few things out of your way."

He stood there, listing to the clattering as John complained about people who don’t make their bed every morning, and about those who would do anything to get out of work.

As Sheppard moved about his room, Rodney tried to ignore his headache as he watched the glowing lines, mesmerized, because that was all he could see. And he listened to Sheppard, trying to figure out what was being moved. 

“If you need me to find anything for you now, just say so,” Sheppard stated.

Rodney stared at the lines, fascinated by the fact that they perfectly outlined his room. He’d been discounting them before, thinking they were just a sign of his infirmity, but he realized they had purpose. With that awareness, they’d become more distinct. It was as if the ‘vision’ was waiting for him to figure it out before they really showed off their use.

Sheppard started talking about the expedition’s optometry specialist, Dr. Gupta. He said she was the best, even though her personal skills sucked. “She’s a good match to treat you.” And then, after saying ‘good match’ he talked about Keller for a little while, and then seemed to run out of steam.

“So, you’ve gone deaf now?” Sheppard finally asked.

It took Rodney a second. “I’m tired,” he responded because he didn’t know what else to say. “And my head still hurts.” He could see the lines, but it didn’t change the fact that he was blind. He was blind, his head hurt and Sheppard was straightening his room and laying out clothes for him. He couldn’t even remember his mother doing that for him.

How embarrassing.

“Yeah,” Sheppard. “I’m going to contact Keller and Zelenka before it gets any later. Let them know about these lines. They must mean something.”

“Obviously,” Rodney had responded as he stood in place.

“You see them everywhere?” Sheppard asked.

“They seem to be outlining anything Ancient,” McKay explained. He looked around the room. “The things I brought from Earth aren’t lighting up.” Sheppard kept moving around him – picking up. It was humiliating. “I’ll call Zelenka and Keller,” Rodney said. “I can use a radio, at least.”

“No,” Sheppard countered. “Right now, you sleep. Nobody will be able to do anything for a while anyway.”

“Zelenka’s up.”

Sheppard continued in the same easy tone. “Radek’s already searching the database for info on that planet. I’ll just give him something new to look for. I bet he’ll have news in the morning. Good thing you had him on the night shift this week.” There was a pause, and then, “What did he do to deserve that punishment?”

“Night shift isn’t punishment!” Rodney grumbled. “He doesn’t like to be assigned to away missions, and he’d been complaining about the hours he was getting so I set up him up with something new.”

“Yeah, you gave something to really complain about.”

“Shut him up for a while,” Rodney replied.

Sheppard chuckled as he moved away.

“But night shift isn’t that bad,” Rodney continued to plead his case. “It’s quiet after dark. I get a lot of work done when no one else is around. He should enjoy it.”

“Not everyone is like you, McKay,” Sheppard’s voice took on that echoing quality that meant he’d stepped into the bathroom. He was puttering about again -- straightening things about on the counter.

Rodney watched the weird neon blackness. The pulsing of the lights continued to make his head throb.

God, this was so wrong. Rodney closed his eyes, and still saw the lights. He wished he could just flick a switch and put everything right again. Sucked. It sucked so hard! He didn’t think he could handle this for long. He always hated it when power went out back home – hated sitting in the dark, trying to figure out things to do when there was no electricity – not fun for anyone. He hated fumbling around, trying to find things in the blackness.

He remembered one long night with his family during a windstorm. The lights had flickered, and then went out. There’d been a moment or two of excitement as he found a flashlight in the blackness – the hero for saving his family from the night! With it, they’d found candles and matches, and the hurricane lamps. His mother and father closed themselves off with books, leaving him to ‘entertain’ his younger sister and keep her from freaking out over monsters in the dark.

There are always monsters in the dark – like that bog beast. He shuddered, remembering how helpless he had been when that thing attacked. There’d been splashing and crashing, shouting, shots going off as his friends fought. And all he could do was huddle against the earth in terror – waiting for it to be over. He’d been worthless at that moment – a liability. He didn’t know what he would have done if any of them had been hurt.

“Rodney?” Sheppard’s voice was close again, and Rodney blinked in surprise.

“I’m fine,” he said quickly -- too quickly.

“You look pretty set up here,” Sheppard said. “You probably already know this, but just in case -- your toothbrush and a water glass are right next to the sink at 10 o’clock. Your toothpaste is at 2 o’clock. Your hairbrush is behind it. I found some hair gel. I set it next to the brush. Seriously, you use hair gel?”

“Sometimes!” Rodney snapped, running a hand over his head. “Sometimes, I use it. Not as much as you, by any means. Do you take stock out in the company?”

Sheppard went on, “Your bubble bath stuff is at the edge of the tub, to the right of the faucet where you left it. I suggest you bathe soon. You stink.”

“It’s the bog. It’s not my fault that I kept falling down! I couldn’t see where I was putting my feet, and the ground was trying to suck my boots off me. I did the best I could!” He kept talking, his voice getting louder and faster. “I was just trying to keep moving and not run into Ronon, and I don’t think you know how hard it was for me. I couldn’t see anything and it was difficult enough to do it when we walked out there the first time. Then, there was the blackness and the headache and the damn bog possum, and all I could do was fall over and hope I didn’t get eaten. What else did you expect me to do?”

Sheppard said nothing, so Rodney fumed on, “Then I was stuck in the infirmary. You could go back to your own room to shower and get freshened up. I can’t do anything until someone decides to help me. I can’t even find the right clothing without help. I wouldn’t have been able to find my toothpaste without feeling around in a drawer and maybe putting antibacterial cream on the brush by mistake. It’s surprising that I haven’t tripped and broken my skull open yet.” He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to move or where to go, so he stood there, shouting and staring forward, knowing that he really wasn’t looking toward John. “I feel like an imbecile, like an infant. I can’t do anything on my own.”

John stepped closer. “Hold out your hand.”

“Why? So you can lead me to the bed? I think I can handle that on my own.”

Sheppard grabbed him by his wrist and turned his hand over. Then, he pressed a radio against Rodney’s palm. “Just keep it with you. Give me a call if you need anything. I don’t mind coming.”

Rodney held the device for a moment, staring at where it should be, but seeing nothing – just blackness, and the bright lines of the floor beneath him. He grimaced, hating the idea of having to bother Sheppard for stupid things -- as if the colonel didn’t have better things to do.

“Can you think of anything you need before I go?” Sheppard asked, his voice even.

Rodney didn’t move, continuing to stare where the radio should be in his hand. He figured that Sheppard must have already set it to the right channel, had turned it on. Only the microphone would need to be activated if necessary. John was a thorough guy.

He considered asking for his laptop – he didn’t know where it had ended up after they returned to the base. He knew how to turn on the ‘narrator device’ – but the voices on those things always sounded like depressed robots and he feared for his psyche if he had to listen to that voice for long.

He could ask Sheppard to set up some sort of music player for the evening, but he didn’t feel like listening to anything at the moment. He wanted someone to turn off the glowing lines and turn on the regular lights. He wanted the electricity to come back on. He wanted everything to be normal again.

Sheppard said nothing, and so Rodney finally said, his voice low and hoarse, “I’ll be fine.”

After a short pause, Sheppard said, “Use the radio if you think of anything. I’m not far.”

“Thanks,” he said softly, knowing that there was nothing he could say to truly thank his friend for this help. It must have really sucked for Sheppard. He knew he should apologize for his foul mood, but Sheppard spoke instead.

“No problem. Tomorrow, we’re going running, so get up early.”

“What?” Rodney sputtered. “No! No running! I’m in no shape to…”

“Well, you’re shape is always the issue, but if you can see the walls and floors of Atlantis, you can come for a run with me. Do you have any running clothes? Kinda doubt it, but I can have another look.”

“No running! Are you insane! You’ve done enough rifling through my drawers already.”

“Fine. I’ll come around tomorrow and we’ll grab some breakfast, think about a run, then we see Keller. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you and run some more tests. And more running afterward.”

Rodney frowned, wondering if he’d heard a smile in Sheppard’s voice. “Breakfast, yes. Running, definitely no.”

Sheppard continued, “Zelenka will have all night to come up with some ideas. He’s not too shabby in the brains department either. Plus you’ll have the night to think on it.”

Rodney considered this and said, “I often do some very intuitive thinking as I’m drifting off to sleep, and some of my best ideas come after a nice soak.” And he gazed toward the big tub, seeing its outline in the glowing bands.

“Speaking of which, get soaking. The sooner the better.” Sheppard sniffed loudly, and then opened the door. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Rodney replied, wishing that he could say the same.

Sheppard seemed to linger a moment, but he slipped through the door and was gone. McKay stood in the room, listening, wondering if he'd truly left. He tried to hear the sound of breathing, and after a moment, he voiced a quiet, "John?"

No answer. Apparently, he had gone.

Okay then, now to get on with your life.

McKay set his radio by his bed and shuffled around the room. It was fairly easy. He knew where every piece of ‘Earth’ furniture was placed, and could see the Ancient things outlined.

He filled the tub, carefully feeling the water level so that it didn’t overflow, and took the promised long soak, thinking it was entirely weird to bathe in the darkness. Some folks liked to bathe by candlelight, but that never made any sense to him. How was someone supposed to take notes? To do research?

The hot water soothed him. His tense muscles relaxed. His head hurt a little less. The bubbles were lavender scented, which is supposed to help with sleep. It seemed to be doing the trick. He could feel himself start to drift in the warmth and the serene aroma. 

And the boredom. There was something entirely dull about sitting in a bathtub with no ability to pop onto his laptop for information or to record his latest deep thought. Bored, and tired, he coerced himself out of the water. The lines seemed more bearable now that he was used to them, and he smiled a little as he prepared for bed. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.

He sat on one side of the bed, and pulled back the sheets. He was about to slide his feet under the covers when his hand glanced against an object. He jerked back, surprised. Realizing that nothing was moving, he felt about until he found it.

What the hell? He grasped the thing. It was rubbery and long and… a bit obscene. What the HELL? He jumped to his feet, disgusted, as he dropped it, hearing the light thud of it against his sheets. Why did things like this have to happen to him? He couldn’t see this thing, couldn’t figure out what it was or why was it in his bed.

The problem was, he’d either have to figure it out on his own, or call Sheppard for help. He glanced toward where he’d left the radio, knowing what he had to do.

If he could only turn the lights back on...

He reached out, feeling around until he touched the strange thing again. Rubbery. Gross! Fleshy… disturbing! It seemed to have… a beak. And then an understanding dawned on him – rubber chicken.

Son of a bitch!

The rubber chicken had been on his dresser earlier, a gift from the colonel. It had been jammed in the gap between the wall and the furniture in an attempt to get it out of the way. He’d situated it in such a way that it seemed to be peeking out of that prison.

Stupid rubber chicken! He drew back to fling it into the corner, but realizing that it was a bad idea because throwing it would only bring another surprise encounter with it. He dropped it under his bed instead.

Madly, he felt about the sheets, finding a balled up sock at the foot of the bed. He was about to blame Sheppard for that too, but couldn’t remember if he’d left the sock there himself the last time he went to bed with cold feet. He decided to blame it on Sheppard anyway.

Satisfied that his bed was cleared, he laid back and tried to sleep. It didn’t happen, not even after popping a couple of pain pills. His head still hurt and the bars of lights would not go out even with his eyes closed.

It was like trying to sleep in the middle of a Tokyo city street.

He kept still for a while, watching the lights. They glowed in reds and blues. He could see his room and the handful of Ancient devices that had been scattered about – bits and bobs that he’d brought in to study in his down-time.

And he wondered if he could see further than just his room, so he concentrated, letting his mind reach out to the spaces beyond these walls. And with a small smile, he managed it. A floor plan of lines expanded – delineating the hallway outside his room, running out to draw in the other rooms along the corridor. He banked upward as if in flight and the lines kept going – illustrating the main tower, the infirmary, the mess hall, and the control room. Every room was drawn out to show the Ancient devices, the structures that had been here when they arrived.

He kept expanding the vision, pushing it further, enlarging his map of Atlantis. It was amazingly detailed, and he smiled a little in spite of his growing headache.

He explored rooms, coming in close, and he winced as he found the Gate Room. He drew back almost immediately as the glowing became brighter, as if the technology present there was too powerful, swamping his senses. A stab of pain shot through his head. He held out a hand as if to push back as he grimaced and let his mind fall away from the design, drawing back – back – back and the pain lessened until he saw only his room.

He let out a breath. That was wild.

Why… why did the Ancients believe that anyone needed this sort of sight? What was the purpose to it? It wasn’t as if he was seeing anything special. This strange vision only outlined what was already visible – Ancient design.

It wasn’t as if this place was hidden.

He frowned in thought, and then sat up. Atlantis wasn’t hidden… but…

He fumbled for the radio, eager to talk to Sheppard about his thought, but paused before he activated the microphone. It had been after midnight when they left the infirmary. It was deeper into the night now. Sheppard and Keller and nearly everyone would be asleep – everyone except Zelenka!

Yes! 

He considered using the radio, but what the hell. He could walk to Zelenka’s personal lab. After all, he could see the corridors. He could see the entire route even before he left the room. It would be a snap!

Feeling better, Rodney stood and began moving about his room. It must have been nearly morning.

He found the toothpaste as promised. A bath sponge had been shoved in his drinking glass. He sighed and squeezed the thing before finding a place for it behind the faucet.

He didn’t bother with a shave, or the hair gel, but ran the brush through his hair, hoping that he managed to get his thinning locks into a decent shape. He found the clothing that Sheppard had left out for him. After running his hands over the material, he was able to figure out what was set out – a uniform. Typical.

It took a little while to get dressed. He had to figure out tops and bottoms and ensure that everything was on right-side-out, but he managed the feat without too much difficulty. He only hoped that Sheppard hadn’t done something to his uniform as well.

He found his shoes and his still-muddy boots. Shoes it was! Jammed inside one was a half-dozen stress balls. Fantastic. He pulled them out and tried to corral them against the wall. Sheppard – you couldn’t trust the man.

He then figured out which shoe was the right one, and which was the left -- and put them on.

Dressed. He’d managed it. He allowed himself a smile at his achievement, and then sighed as he recalled an old ribbon he’d seen on his niece’s bulletin board -- “I can dress myself”. Great. Jeannie had probably given that to Madison when she was two.

He had just achieved something any two-year-old could manage.

Glum with that realization, he ran his hands over his clothing, hoping he didn’t look too horrible. Finally, knowing he could do no better, he strode to the door and hesitated.

You can do this.

He touched the controls for the door and it snicked open. Outside, he could smell the saltiness of the air, feel a breeze on his face. Someone must have left a balcony door open, letting the night air into the hall. Far below, the sea tumbled, creating a quiet wall of white noise. It was nice.

You can do this.

He took a step into the outlined hallway, seeing the proportions of the walls clearly with his strange vision. He held out a hand and edged forward, knowing that a table brought from Earth was nearby. He stepped and stepped and reached until he touched the corner of it in the blackness. Yes, he thought as he ran his hand along the cool, hard surface. He grinned. 

I can do this.  
888888888888888888  
“Rodney?” Radek called in disbelief as he looked up from his laptop.

“What?” Rodney responded as he edged his way into the lab.

“You’re…” the Czech paused and restarted, “You’re here.”

“Give the man a prize. Yes, I’m here.”

Zelenka scrutinized McKay as Rodney made his way into the room. He was blinking at the walls of the room as he carefully moved. Seeing Rodney hesitate and hold out a hand, Radek jumped up, skirting his desk to come alongside Rodney. “Colonel Sheppard told me that you could see outlines. This is amazing. Neuvěřitelný!” he prattled. “You came here without help? You’re doing very well.”

“Well, of course. I am a genius,” Rodney grumbled.

"So you keep saying." Zelenka paused a moment, adding, “And you smell like flowers.”

With a groan, Rodney told him, “I took a bath! So sue me! I thought it would help me sleep, but I couldn’t shut off the glowing tubes of light!” he flicked a hand at his head.

Radek frowned at the comment. “I have been trying to research this since Colonel Sheppard told me. It would help me if you described the lines.”

Rodney let out a long sigh, and then lifted his head as if gazing at something. “They resemble neon lights in red and blue with no connectors. They run along the entire length of a wall, demarcating it.” He pointed, showing the upper edge of the room, pointing to where the ceiling met the wall. “Everything is outlined in glowing lines.”

“Ah, like in ‘Tron’?” Radek tried.

Rodney smiled broadly, bringing up one finger to gesture, but ended up smacking Radek on the side of the head. Rodney’s eyes widened in surprise and worry, and he dropped the arm, making almost a ‘holstering’ motion with his hand as he let it fall next to his hip. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“It’s nothing,” Radek responded stepping back quickly and wincing as he rubbed at his face. “Nothing to worry about. Lines, you said. You see glowing lines.”

“They’re straight most of the time, but they undulate like waves are flowing through them when I walk along them,” Rodney said, gesturing to the walls. “Makes me a little seasick.” He blinked and said, “And it doesn’t matter if my eyes are open or not.”

“Oh,” Zelenka exclaimed, “They seem to be moving? So maybe it is more like ‘The Matrix’?”

Rodney frowned at that comment. “I never saw the movie,” he admitted. “I was busy the year it came out.”

“Pity,” said Zelenka. “It is also a pity that nobody brought the DVD when we first came here. We must have seen every DVD in Atlantis at least seven times that year because we had nothing else to watch. I know that I never want to see ‘Shawshank Redemption’ again.” Zelenka shook his head in irritation. “‘The Matrix’ is good. The first one only. Don't bother with the sequels. Someone must have a copy of it now. We’ll watch it next movie night. You’ll see…” And he stopped talking, realizing what he’d just said.

Rodney obviously missed the error, because he went on with, “I heard the other two Matrix movies were awful so I figured the first one wasn’t worth the bother.”

Zelenka blew out a breath and watched as Rodney’s gaze never caught him. His boss seemed to be watching something else, his eyes following something that ran along the walls.

“Do you think that it is purposeful?” Zelenka finally asked. “The flow of the lines? They are actually directing you somewhere?”

“Yes. They sort of point the way. They brought me here, even though I could have found it without the help. And… see?” He pointed and smiled as if he expected Radek to see something. “They’re sending me to the mess hall,” he said, looking pleased with himself

“The mess hall? You are hungry?”

“Breakfast sounds good, doesn’t it?”

Zelenka check his watch. “It is only 3 AM.”

“That’s all?” Rodney looked crestfallen. “This sucks. Nobody’s working this time of night. We won’t be able to get anything good.”

Radek sighed loudly. “Yes, I know,” he grumbled.

Rodney’s head shot up at this comment. “Hey, I thought you liked night shift.”

“Nobody likes the night shift, Rodney,” Zelenka told him. “I have some bagels and fruit, if you’re hungry. Come, have a seat.”

Rodney made a face at the mention of fruit, and let Radek take him by the arm to bring him around the desk. “We can’t think of food at a time like this,” Rodney stated. “I know why this happened.”

Radek grinned as he aimed Rodney the stool. “That’s excellent news! Tell me, what have you learned?”

And there was a crash as Rodney yelped and came to a sudden halt.

Zelenka cringed. “I’m sorry! Rodney, I’m so sorry.”

“What the hell, Radek? What are you trying to do to me?” Rodney shoved at a set of stomach-high shelves as he hopped back. “Damn it! What was that?” He shuffled backward, and Radek had to grab him to keep him from colliding into something else.

“It is a shelving unit,” Radek told him, doing what he could to maneuver Rodney out of danger. “I am so sorry.”

“I got the corner of the thing jammed right into my stomach!” Rodney whined as he winced, and bent over. “Yeah, well, you seem to forget I am blind. OW! You were trying to kill me!”

“Again, I am sorry, very sorry, Rodney,” Radek responded. “Are you all right?”

“No, I am not all right! I just rammed myself into a shelf! What kind of a guide are you anyway?”

“I will be more careful. Please, Rodney, we’re nearly there. I’ll be more vigilant from now on.”

“Yes. Yes, you will,” Rodney said snidely, and finally stopped massaging the maligned portion of his belly. He dipped his head and sighed. “I just wish…” and he let his voice trail off, and his expression became morose.

“We will fix this, Rodney,” Zelenka pledged. And then asked, “What did you need to tell me? Why did this happen to you?”

Rodney stated, “It has something to do with P9H-992.”

Zelenka nodded, pressing his glasses to the bridge of his nose. “The planet where this happened? Yes, I have been researching, trying to find something that would explain this.” He sighed loudly. “I have found nothing of worth. Only what we already know. The Ancients had performed research at the site regarding ways to deter the Wraith. But there is nothing here to explain the type of research. All information shows that there should be a large facility, but none was found.”

“Yes,” Rodney responded. “There’s a missing Ancient outpost there, something hidden in that mess of a planet -- something we weren’t able to see.”

Zelenka looked up at Rodney, watching how he watched something unseen. And he smiled a little. “And now you are seeing only Ancient designs.” He paused, hopeful, “Can you see what would otherwise be invisible to our sight.” Zelenka foundered, not sure how to put his thoughts into words.

Rodney turned toward him slowly, saying, “I can see the entire city, just sitting in this room. I can see every Ancient device, every room and corridor, everything.”

Zelenka nodded. “So, if there is still an Ancient facility on that planet…”

“…I’ll be able to see it,” Rodney completed.

PART 5: PLANS

Ronon made his way into the mess hall, looking for the big bin of bacon. He sniffed, smelling the smoky goodness as he entered the food line and grabbed a tray. One of early arrivals, he could have all that he wanted. He was approaching his favorite smoked meat when something changed in the dining area. Where there had been the quiet sound of a handful of talkers, the tables silenced as two people entered the room.

“Okay, we have to be there now,” Rodney said, loudly. “I can smell it. Is that bacon? It’s gotta be. I’m going to want bacon and lots of it.”

Zelenka helped McKay through the rows of tables, rather unsuccessfully. He seemed to have little control over the man. Rodney wanted to charge forward as Zelenka tried a more restrained approach.

“Ow!” Rodney yelped as he crashed into one of the tables. “What the hell was that?”

“I’m sorry, Rodney, it was a bench.”

“Of course, it’s a bench. I may be blind, but I’m not stupid.” He stopped and rubbed at his thigh. “Stupid bench!”

“It would help if you didn’t keep trying to lead. You cannot see the tables, and you are being irrational.”

“I am not irrational!”

“We’ll sit here. It will be easier than…”

“No, I like the tables at the edge of the balcony.”

“Do you think it is wise?”

“It’s not as if I can fall in. The balcony walls are there for a reason.”

“The balcony is on the other side of the room and we’re having difficulty already.”

“But I …” Rodney sighed. “…I can hear the ocean there. The sun’s up, right?” He turned toward the wanted tables. “Is it too much to ask to sit in the sun?”

Radek deflated a little. “No, Rodney, it isn’t,” he admitted. “Come, we’ll manage it.”

And he promptly ran Rodney into another bench. McKay hissed, and danced, but didn’t swear this time, and Radek kept him moving – managing to maneuver him into a wider and safer aisle for the rest of the journey.

After he brought Rodney to a ‘good’ table and finally McKay was sitting (after a bit of difficulty negotiating the seat), and Zelenka came away, looking flustered and tired.

“Hey,” Ronon said as the compact scientist came into the serving line.

Zelenka jumped back in surprise and looked up at him, his eyes as wide as a Warloo. “Oh! Ronon,” he replied. “I didn’t see you there.”

“He keeping you busy?” Ronon said, his eyes on McKay. His teammate sat at the table, alert and turning his head this way and that. The people at the other tables watched him silently while others slunk away like cowards.

“Busy? Yes. We’ve been to one of the Ancient database terminals.” Radek shook his head. “He’s been accessing the data himself. Apparently he is able to ‘see’ the data on the Ancient’s screens. Amazing.”

“He can see?” Ronon questioned, confused. He looked back toward Rodney, ready for good news.

Rodney moved nervously in his seat, his head darting back and forth as he picked up on sounds. He looked lost and alone. When someone stood, rattling their tray, Rodney turned sharply toward them, and seem to wait a moment, as if he expected someone was coming toward his table. The diner turned and went the other way though, and Rodney faced forward.

Radek waved a hand. “No, no. He cannot ‘see’.” He frowned and Ronon found his patience waning. Radek tried again. “He is only able to see Ancient things, the outlines of objects and apparently he can read their data and thus use any of the devices. It is quite remarkable.”

“Yeah,” Ronon responded, unsure.

“He was astounding,” Radek continued in an awed tone. “In a matter of moments he’d accessed information in the database that had eluded us for years. This vision is amazing.”

Ronon continued to watch Rodney. A pair of marines moved down the corridor and Rodney’s empty gaze followed them, his mouth a little open. Once they were gone, he drummed his fingers on the table, looking as if he didn’t know what to do.

Zelenka kept talking, “We should continue to research this database. There is so much yet to be discovered.” He sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it,” he paused and looked toward Rodney. “This misfortune for Rodney could be a boon for Atlantis.”

Rodney stopped twisting about at the table, and set his head at an angle as he tried to feel the sun. His hands stilled on the table.

“Yeah, but what about him?” Ronon said, pointing a thumb at the man in question.

With a sad sigh, Radek admitted, “I hope we find a means of correcting this soon. I believe it is very difficult for him.”

Ronon nodded.

To change the subject, Radek stated, “He said that he was hungry. He would not stop talking about the food, so I brought him here,” Zelenka went on. “He did not want the fruit that I offered him.”

“He doesn’t like most of it,” Ronon reminded Radek.

“Yes, yes, I know,” Zelenka said. “But it was all I had left after he’d eaten the bagels.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Ronon offered, picking up a second tray.

“You will?” Zelenka said, looking relieved. “Thank you. I have some things I need to finish up and then, I really need to sleep.” He let out a breath. “It is difficult to keep up with him in the best of times.”

Ronon grunted, understanding. McKay might have been slow in any physical task, but no one who could match him when it came to a mental undertaking.

“I do not want to abandon him,” Radek said softly. “He is my friend, and he is frightened. He does not want to act frightened.” And Radek looked up to Ronon again. “It must be difficult.”

“Yeah,” Ronon admitted, still watching McKay. He didn’t want to consider it, didn’t want to think about what it would be like to have his own sight taken away. He didn’t want to consider what his alternatives would be. “I’ll watch him,” Ronon stated. “And Sheppard will be here soon.”

“Good, good! I have emailed Colonel Sheppard my report already. We may have found an explanation as to why this happened to Rodney, and now that we know that, it’s only a matter of time before we are able fix him, to correct this problem.” And he winced at the word. “That’s not what I meant exactly,” he admitted. “He is not a problem.”

“Yeah, but he can be,” Ronon said with a laugh.

Zelenka smiled and nodded. “I will see you later then. Goodnight, Ronon. Maybe tomorrow I will be working the day shift.”

“Don’t count on it,” Ronon responded.

Radek gave a knowing nod. He turned to go, but paused and told Ronon, “Don’t take him through the Gateroom when you go.”

Ronon frowned. “Why not?”

“He is suffering less from the headaches, but the technology of the Gate seems to overpower him. It is like a very bright light in his brain. I believe that the power of it overwhelms him. He should not be near it if it were to activate.”

“Got it,” Ronon told him, and Radek shuffled off in the direction of his quarters.

Ronon turned back to the food line, and amply filled two trays, remembering to add a cup of coffee.

“Took you long enough,” Rodney groused as Ronon approached. “Don’t you know I’m starving here? And I’ve been sitting here alone. There should be people eating, even at this hour. They’re probably here, just keeping mum.” And he glared out at the tables as if he might see people.

Around them, the small group of remaining diners made themselves smaller and quieter.

“Typical, isn’t it, Zelenka,” Rodney went on. “People are just uncomfortable around the blind man.”

“You make lots of people uncomfortable, McKay,” Ronon said as he dropped the trays to the table.

Rodney jumped at the clatter and gazed toward Ronon. “Oh!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t know it was you.” Up close, Ronon noticed that McKay looked tired, too. Probably hadn’t slept well.

“Figured that,” Ronon replied as he took a seat opposite McKay.

“Where’s Zelenka?”

“Went to bed. Got you some pancakes and waffles and bacon and some sausage,” Ronon said. “Coffee cup is in the upper right hand corner.”

“Oh… thanks,” Rodney responded, feeling around the edge of the tray until he found the upper corner, and then carefully located the handle before he tried picking up the mug. He sipped tentatively until he was satisfied that he could do it.

Ronon dug into his own food as Rodney sipped at the coffee.

After he’d had about half the cup, Rodney found the fork. He contemplated how to go about the task, and slowly brought down the fork with one hand as he felt for the food with his other. “There’s no eggs?” he asked.

“They looked weird,” Ronon told him.

“You always think eggs look weird,” Rodney replied.

“They cooked them bad,” Ronon countered. “You wouldn’t like them. I know I wouldn’t want them.”

“Oh,” Rodney said, not sounding convinced. He kept forking around the tray, trying to stab a sausage that just rolled away from him. The bacon wouldn’t be sliced, and he couldn’t figure out how to cut up and eat the waffle. “Great, just great,” he muttered. “I’m going to starve, too.”

Ronon dropped his fork to the table, letting it clank loudly. Rodney jumped again in surprise. “Easier to eat with my fingers,” Ronon said. “I’ve always felt that way. Too many people eat with a fork just because it looks pretty.” He picked up a waffle, dripping in syrup. “I’m not pretty.”

“That’s an understatement,” Rodney huffed and Ronon chuckled.

Ronon started to chew on his waffle. 

Rodney cocked his head at him, listening, and then set down his fork. He felt until he found the pancake. He thought about it for a moment, then, with a smile, he patiently rolled it up. The smile dropped, replaced with a looking of grief as he fingers were coated with syrup. “This is disgusting.”

“It’s not so bad. Easier to clean your hands than other stuff,” Ronon said.

Rodney sighed, and picked up the rolled pancake. Hesitantly, he took a bite, leaning over the tray in hopes of letting the syrup dribble into a safe place. The method seemed to work well enough, and he finished the sticky pancake quickly. Holding his hands over the tray, he asked, “Where’s the napkin?”

Ronon shrugged. “I always forget those,” he admitted.

“Great,” Rodney sighed.

“You can lick your fingers when you’re done. That’s what I do,” Ronon told him as he grabbed another waffle. “Don’t need to bother until you’re done. The syrup adds extra flavor to everything.” And he grabbed for a sausage with his other hand.

McKay continued to sit with his sticky fingers held out over the tray. After a moment, he said, “Zelenka and I may have stumbled across the purpose for this.” He gestured toward his face.

“That’s good,” Ronon said, smacking away. “Tell it to Sheppard when he gets here. I just want to eat breakfast.”

With a bit of a frown, Rodney felt around his plate.

“It will fix you?” Ronon asked.

“It should,” Rodney replied.

“That’s all I need to know,” Ronon responded. He lifted his gaze as he saw someone enter the Mess. “He’s here.”

“Who? Who’s here?” Rodney looked up suspiciously.

“Sheppard,” Ronon told him.

The colonel had entered the room and quickly sighted their table. He looked relieved, and a little annoyed too as he approached the table.

"Hey," Ronon greeted.

Sheppard gave him a quick nod, then turned his attention to McKay. “Rodney, I thought you’d be asleep still.”

“Couldn’t,” Rodney told him as he held his hands out to keep from touching anything.

Sheppard raised an eyebrow at the pose, and Ronon filled in, “Sticky.”

“Oh,” Sheppard replied. He watched McKay, examining his movements as he could figure out the best way to help him. He glanced to Ronon, meeting his gaze and seeming to say ‘is everything okay?’

Ronon just shrugged. They were eating breakfast. What could be wrong? “He’s got some stuff to tell you,” Ronon went on. “Thinks he might have it figured out.”

A look of relief flooded the colonel. That statement seemed to lift a weight from Sheppard. He might have thought he hid things well, but Ronon knew him well enough to see through the attempts.

“Good to hear,” Sheppard said, keeping his voice ‘low key’. He started to sit down.

“Grab a tray,” Ronon told him. “It’ll probably take a while for him to tell you everything. Might as well eat.”

“Good plan,” Sheppard responded, smiling. “Guess I won’t need any silverware.” He gave Ronon a happy thump on the shoulder and headed to the chow line.

Ronon went back to eating.

“And hurry back!” Rodney called. “I have a plan. There’s a few details we need to iron out and then we’ll need to go to Woolsey. Zelenka sent our report to you, didn’t he? I helped him write it. Of course, he had to type it out. I have no idea if he included everything that I had in mind, but it should have outlined what we discovered. In any case, we should get started today before it gets too late,” Rodney stated. When Sheppard didn’t respond, he turned to Ronon. “Did he leave?”

“Yeah,” Ronon told him, his mouth full of his last waffle. He’d go back for more when Rodney started telling Sheppard about the big plan.

Rodney exhaled and went back to feeling around his tray. He smiled when found the stack of bacon. He picked up one of the crispy sticks and started chewing on it. “Bacon,” he said with a sigh.

“Good stuff,” Ronon responded. “Makes everything better.”  
888888888888888888  
“Are we certain that this is a good idea?” Woolsey asked as he regarded the team assembled in the conference room.

McKay sighed loudly. “This is the reason I was blinded. I was meant to find this hidden base using this special ‘sight’. And since I have the means of finding the hidden location, it would be unconscionable not to make use of it.”

“And once we find it, we think that we can get him fixed up,” Sheppard said, nodding toward McKay.

Richard frowned. “But you were all nearly killed by that creature the last time you went.”

“But we weren’t,” Ronon reminded him.

“True, but it's a risk,” Woolsey continued. “I can’t exactly send a team into a known dangerous area unless I have good reason.”

“This is good reason,” Ronon said bluntly.

Woolsey held out his hands. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“We’ll take out a jumper,” Sheppard told him. “McKay should be able to see this hidden base from the air. Once he knows where to find it, we’ll see if we can land nearby. Should be solid ground somewhere. The Gate is on rock. The cliffs are rock. The chubbock shouldn’t be able to reach us there, right?”

Teyla told them, “Although the cubbock can move on solid ground, it prefers to have the safety of water and soft soil.”

“Do you have any assurances that the rest of you won’t end up like Dr. McKay?” and Woolsey turned toward Rodney. “The fact that this happened once, doesn’t bode well. It could happen again.”

“No, it won’t happen again,” McKay insisted. “The area we first discovered was a sort of ‘welcome center’ and we probably won’t be going near the device.”

“That’s one hell of a welcome,” Woolsey retorted.

“There won’t be another one,” McKay insisted.

“Are you certain?” Woolsey asked, “Your entire team will be at risk.” He directed his gaze around the table. “You were lucky last time because Dr. McKay was the only one looking directly at the device. If something similar happens again, the outcome may be worse.”

“Not what I call lucky,” Sheppard countered. “It would have been luckier if none of us were affected.”

Woolsey nodded. “Yes, yes, bad choice of words. What I mean to say is, ‘is this a risk worth taking?’”

Teyla responded immediately, “Yes, Mr. Woolsey. It is.”

Rodney sat back at that statement, looking a little worried at the implications. He cleared his throat and went on, “I'll be about to spot any Ancient surprises,” he said, pointing at his eyes. “I have the special vision to detect this sort of danger. Who knows what information will be gained at the site,” Rodney went on. “It’s definitely worth the risk. The facility was used to research ways of stopping the Wraith,” he said.

“Yes,” Woolsey said evenly. “We started off with that knowledge. Have you been able to find anything else?”

Rodney continued, “It took a little doing, but once I took control of things I was able to access the Ancient database directly and uncovered an important piece of information.” He leveled his gaze toward Woolsey, who had the unsettling experience of being looked through. Rodney grinned widely as if he was enjoying the drama of the pause.

“Yes, what is it?” Woolsey responded.

“The Wraith have the ability to project images,” Sheppard said, so that they didn’t have to wait for Rodney’s big ‘reveal’. “McKay is pretty sure that’s what the Ancients were studying.”

Woolsey contemplated this a moment. “Have there been any recent reports of the Wraith using this talent. It was mentioned in your early reports, but there seems to be no record of it lately.”

“And we believe we know why,” Teyla stated. “Planet P9H-992 was visited several years ago by one of our teams.”

“They took a fly over. Didn’t find anything and left,” Sheppard went on.

“And you believe that one of our people’s ATA gene activated something on the planet,” Woolsey completed. “Something that has been inhibiting the Wraith’s ability to create these projections.”

“Yes,” McKay said, sounding a little annoyed. “That was one of our conclusions.”

“Well then,” Woolsey said. “Let’s leave it alone. Why mess with a good thing?”

Rodney went on, “According to my research, the Ancients learned a great deal from their studies and were well on their way to creating their own illusions – very vivid and solid-looking illusions.”

“Okay,” Woolsey responded, looking a little confused as he listened. “So we’ll have a magic act for talent night.”

“It’s much more than that,” McKay went on. He moved his hands quickly in excitement, turning his gaze around the room, but not stopping on any of them. “The Ancients were presumably able to create totally believable illusions -- full armies, jumpers, battleships, anything you can think up.”

With a little nod, Woolsey said, “Yes I can see how this would be beneficial, but I still don’t understand. All of this is very visual. So why take away someone’s vision if you want them to find and use this lab?”

“Well,” John drawled. “It’s possible that the illusions are a bit too real. We figured that the only way to really work on the system is to be unable see anything that it creates.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Woolsey told them.

“It makes perfect sense,” Rodney responded. “The research is in its infancy. It’s quite possible that they didn’t have total control over what they were creating and the visual distractions would have been unbearable. By blinding the researchers so that they could only see the device itself…” Rodney said, pointing to his face, “They could work on the device, manipulate the images and stay in the ‘real world’, while a sighted researcher could document the fantastical results.”

Woolsey still frowned, not liking the sound of it. Ronon, Sheppard and Teyla didn’t look happy either. Rodney, on the other hand, looked quite impressed.

“Think of it!” McKay exclaimed as he splayed out his hands. “We could even project another Atlantis to act as a decoy during an attack. We could create another Daedalus, a dozen of them. The possibilities are endless. This is definitely something worth checking into. It’s worth the risk.”

Woolsey sighed. “Yes, I can see that. Colonel Sheppard, your team can return to P9H-992 and resume your search for the outpost.”

“Thanks,” Sheppard responded.

“Of course I know you would have gone without my permission,” Woolsey continued. “But it’s good that you asked.”

Sheppard just grinned in return.

“So, let’s get going,” McKay stated as he stood. A chair clattered as he hit it and he stumbled trying to get out of the way, and ran into another chair. For a moment he was confused and turned around quickly before getting himself clear of the table.

“Just one last thing,” Woolsey stated. “I thought there was an issue with the Gate. Dr. McKay, is it true that you haven’t been able to even enter the Gateroom since this happened? I know that Dr. Keller was working with you this morning regarding the issue.”

Rodney’s face seemed to tighten at the mention of the Gateroom, and his hands fluttered at his sides. “Yes, I seem to get a little overwhelmed with the power of the Gate. It sort of swamps me with the pure power of the event horizon.”

Richard said sounding concerned, “The last time you went through an active wormhole, it was enough to render you unconscious. Maybe we should reconsider the situation. We could wait for the Daedalus. If your headaches are keyed to Ancient technology, the Asgard beaming technology might not affect you.”

“The ship is back at Earth right now. It’ll take nearly three weeks for it to return,” Rodney responded as he glanced toward Sheppard.

“We’ll take up a jumper,” Sheppard explained. “Get it a little way from the city while we keep the jumperbay doors open. Chuck can fire up the Gate and we’ll take a quick cruise through. That way, if the DHD is causing the problem, we won’t be the ones dialing and we won’t be nearby when it fires up. We’ll cruise through as quickly as possible this way.” Sheppard watched Rodney. “If there’s trouble getting him through the Gate, we’ll stop.”

“And I understand sedation won’t work,” Woolsey said.

Rodney sighed, looking thoroughly annoyed. “Jennifer tried something and it didn’t go well.”

“She sedated him and tried moving him toward the Gateroom,” Sheppard told them. “He woke up.”

“It was a rather painful awakening, too,” Rodney grumbled. "And, I think, all things considered, I'd rather have my faculties about me."

Sheppard went on looking to Rodney, who looked much more nervous than before. “We’re thinking if we move through quickly, it should curtail a lot of the headache issues. We need to get back there to get him fixed. While we’re out there, we’ll see if we can get any intel about this special lab, and come home. We have it all planned.”

“Very well,” Woolsey replied. “As long as you have a plan.”

Sheppard glanced to the rest of his team. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Ronon had come alongside McKay and said a gruff, “Come on,” before latching onto McKay’s arm and tugging him toward the room’s exit. Teyla went with them, keeping close to Rodney.

Rodney let out a confused, “Where’re we going?”

“Going to get ready,” Ronon responded, and by then they were around the corner and gone, leaving Sheppard with Woolsey.

The Expedition Leader said nothing for a moment. He knew better than to say ‘be careful’ or ‘take good care of him’ because he knew that Sheppard would do both. So instead he smiled warmly and said, “I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Yeah,” Sheppard replied and then took off after his team.

PART 6: BACK TO THE BOG  
Rodney moved easily through the jumper and dropped into the seat behind the pilot’s. Teyla slid into the one across from him, watching him carefully. He looked about the space as if studying it for the first time, smiling a little.

“You can see the jumper?” Teyla asked.

“Yes, I can see everything. It really is amazing,” Rodney returned. “If I concentrate on something like the drive pods, suddenly I can see them in greater detail.” He raised a hand toward the object he was describing. “I can focus on specific a joint, I can see it down to the pins that hold everything in place.”

She watched him, seeing his enthrallment, but found his unfocused eyes to be disturbing.

“That is amazing,” Teyla said softly, trying to be positive. “You must find this fascinating.”

“It is! I’m seeing things I didn’t know existed.” And he smiled. “Just imagine what I can discover! Really, it’s sort of a pity that this vision won’t last much longer. There’s so much more exploration to be done just in Atlantis, I almost wish I could stay and map it out.”

“Rodney, that is possible,” Teyla said softly, leaning toward him. “You are aware that we could wait for the Daedalus. It will be here in three weeks. We could remain in Atlantis during that time. You could continue to study the technology of Atlantis and we could avoid using the Gate.” She watched the expressions play across his face as he considered her suggestion.

He sighed. “I am a big proponent of avoiding pain at all costs,” he told her and he grimaced. “But I don’t think I could do it.” He turned to her, a sadness in his gaze as he admitted, “This isn’t easy.”

“I realize that, Rodney,” she responded softly. “You said that your headaches have diminished. You are doing well.”

He frowned. “I’m hardly managing anything. Did you know that Sheppard had to put clothing out for me last night? Ronon had to get breakfast? I couldn’t get through the mess hall without Zelenka. I can handle working with the Ancient tech, but I can’t do anything else without someone to help me.”

“You shouldn’t be concerned about such a thing,” Teyla said, leaning toward him. “Please, Rodney, understand that we are glad to assist you in anything.”

Rodney dropped his head as if studying the console around him. “I don’t want to be assisted.” He lifted his head sharply, gazing toward her. “Not that I don’t appreciate it. I’m used to doing things on my own. It’s… weird.”

“You are used to having assistants in the labs,” Teyla went on. “You have people around you who perform the ‘mundane’ tasks.”

“Yes, but…”

“We are here to help you with the mundane.”

Rodney poked at the controls of the console. “It sucks,” he said, his voice very low.

“Yes,” Teyla admitted, her voice equally low. “It does.”

“I know I shouldn’t be so eager to get back to ‘normal’,” Rodney went on. “I realize that it’s selfish, but I just want to be able to see what’s going on around me. I want to be able to see the ocean. I always liked the ocean. I want to see my wall in my room.” He smiled, looking a little embarrassed. “It was always comforting to me to see my diplomas and awards – my accolades. If I’d had a day where everything had gone to hell, I could look up there and remind myself that at some point in my life, I had deserved praise – at some point I had done something right.”

Teyla tried to cut in, but Rodney’s voice had risen, and he left her no room to cut in.

“I want to see Atlantis – I mean, really see it. As much as I’ve always appreciated the pure science of the structure, I miss the beauty of it. It’s such a beautiful place.”

His voice was wistful and Teyla wished she knew what to say to him.

But Rodney was rushing onward. “Everything is strange. I can’t reach for a cup of coffee without being afraid of knocking it over. I can’t move around my own room without feeling my way. I can’t use any of our computers the right way, and accessing the Ancient systems isn’t easy, even with this… power. They have a completely different system that takes forever to negotiate.”

“Rodney,” Teyla said, trying to cut him off, but McKay plowed on.

“Sheppard keeps hiding that rubber chicken. Does he have any idea how annoying it is to find it with my off-world gear? I keep losing things. I’m afraid to set down anything because I won’t be able to find it a moment later. I can’t read any reports. I can’t watch a movie to relax. Just listening to it annoys the hell out of me because I can’t tell what’s happening.”

His voice kept rising, growing faster. “I hear things and I don’t know what they are and it freaks me out. People keep coming and going and I never know if they’re still there or not. And I keep hitting people and running into things. I know I’m oblivious most of the time, but it’s worse now that I can’t see you. I can’t tell if you’re fed up with me, or bored, annoyed or…”

“Rodney!” Teyla tried again. “I am not… I’m not annoyed. Please listen to me.”

“You sound annoyed,” Rodney countered, not looking sure of himself. He looked almost frightened to hear what she had to say. “See, that just goes to show. I don’t know anything. Forget about it. I just want to be able to see again. If we go back to this planet, and I can find this base and figure out how to use the equipment, maybe I can find a way to help Atlantis and … cure me.”

“Rodney, I understand,” Teyla told him as she reached out for him. She lowered her hand to his arm, and he didn’t flinch. He just turned his head to gaze at the spot where his hand rested on him. “I have no idea what you are going through, but of course you want to see again. In honesty, I do not care about the outpost or the device that might be there. The only device I want to discover is the one that will help you.”

He lifted his head, looking as if he didn’t know what to say. Before he decided on something, there was a clatter at the back of the jumper as Sheppard and Ronon came in. Teyla sat back in her chair.

“Hey, little man,” Ronon greeted as he gave Rodney a slap on the shoulder on his way past.

“Ready?” Sheppard asked. He paused between them, looking from Teyla to Rodney with a curious expression.

Rodney cleared his throat. “Yeah,” he said. “Let’s get go.”

“Okay, good,” Sheppard responded, his gaze lingering on Teyla. She gave him a tight smile and a nod.

“Yes, we are ready,” Teyla said confidently.

He kept his gaze on Rodney as he moved into the pilot’s chair. Rodney faced forward, looking resolved, yet his fingers clutched the edge of the console. Ronon, from the position he’d taken at the copilot’s chair, turned around and watched Rodney carefully.

“If you’re all looking at me, you can stop it now,” Rodney said as he glared forward.

Sheppard laughed lightly. “You’re not that exciting, Rodney,” he said as he brought the jumper online.

“Oh!” Rodney exclaimed, bringing his head up and sitting up straight.

“You okay?” Sheppard asked as he opened the upper doors of the bay.

“Yes, yes,” Rodney replied, looking about excitedly. “This is… wow… pretty awesome!”

“Great,” Sheppard responded. “Let’s head out.” He contacted the Gateroom for final clearance and then brought the ship into a hover.

Teyla watched Rodney as he looked about in fascination, his mouth agape, like a child seeing the Celebration of Light for the first time.

“What are you seeing, Rodney?” Teyla asked.

“It’s as if the whole jumper has come alive,” he said quietly. “I can see HUDs everywhere, see every active component. The inertial dampners, the heating systems, the ventilation systems – I can see them all! And I’m in the midst of it.” He held out a hand as if to touch the figures that only he could see. “It’s… wow… amazing.”

Sheppard flashed a look over his shoulder and said, “Here we go.” And he brought the ship upward to shoot through the open upper door.

Rodney’s face split in a wide grin. “Incredible,” he breathed out.

The jumper was brought into position above Atlantis. Teyla continued to watch Rodney as Sheppard ordered the lower doors of the jumperbay opened, and then he told Chuck to dial the Gate for P9H-992.

Chuck announced the end of the dialing sequence and it was as if a switch were thrown. Rodney’s awed expression fell. The color seemed to drain from his face and he curled forward. He made an honest attempt to remain upright, but his hands shot to his head as he cringed at his station.

“Rodney,” Teyla called as she left her seat to crouch beside her teammate. “Rodney, can you hear me?”

“Yes, yes, of course… ow… yeah.” He clutched at his head and sucked air through his teeth. “God… God it hurts. Gah!” He bowed deeper, his head touching the console as he whimpered.

“Damn it, I thought we were far enough away,” Sheppard muttered.

“Must be... the open bay doors,” Rodney hissed between his teeth. "Direct shot."

Sheppard turned in his seat. “Do we stop?” he asked.

“No, no, please… don’t…” Rodney begged. “Go. Just go. Fast. Please.” The final word came out a squeak.

“I can do fast,” Sheppard replied, swiveling forward and radioing the control room to let them know he was coming. They swooped down through the upper door to the jumperbay, dropping instantly through the second, to where the launching system of Atlantis caught them and held for only a second.

As they hovered for a moment before the blue pool of the event horizon, Rodney let out a feeble gasp like a dying animal, and collapsed onto Teyla as the jumper shot forward and into the open Gate.  
888888888888888888  
The jumper emerged from the wormhole, shooting out over the planet’s surface as Sheppard shouted for Teyla.

She was crouched on the floor with Rodney’s upper body in her arms. “Help me,” she called to Ronon.

The Satedan was already up and heading toward her. Between them, they lifted Rodney and carried him the short distance to the benches in back.

“Is he okay?” Sheppard asked as he brought the jumper around to hover over the soupy bog.

“He passed out,” Ronon responded as he carefully settled Rodney. “Can’t see how that’s a good thing.”

Teyla placed her hands on either side of his head and called his name.

Annoyed that he couldn’t see what was happening, Sheppard directed the jumper toward the cliffs, until he hovered over the stony surface. Satisfied that he was dealing with land that would hold him, he brought the jumper down in a hurry. He spun toward the rear of the jumper. 

Ronon was standing with his arms crossed, watching Teyla with a serious expression. Teyla continued to hover over McKay. “Rodney,” she called again. “Can you hear me?”

He was pale, his face slack. He didn’t move.

“Come on, Rodney,” Sheppard called as he moved in beside Teyla. He slapped Rodney lightly. “You in there?”

McKay’s brow furrowed.

“Yeah, there you are. Come on, buddy. We have a busy day ahead of us. No napping,” Sheppard said as he continued to pat at one of Rodney’s cheek. He hoped it was annoying. “Hey!” he said. “Hey!”

“What?” Rodney said softly. His voice little more than a tight whisper.

“We’re here,” Sheppard went on. “We’ve landed on the planet.”

“Oh,” Rodney said. Although his eyes stayed close, his face seemed to come alive – replacing the laxness with irritation. He brought a hand up, nearly smacking Teyla, and touched his forehead. “Oh,” he said again.

“You okay?” John asked, keeping his voice easy.

“I feel like a spike has been driven through my head if that tells you anything. OW!” Rodney pressed the hand to his head as he grimaced. “God, that hurts.”

“You’re going to be okay though,” Ronon commented, not really a question.

“Yes, yes, of course. I may have suffered severe brain damage, but I’ll be okay,” Rodney grumbled, continuing to press on his head. “Just give me a minute.”

“Yeah,” Sheppard said, giving Rodney a slap on the shoulder as he drew back and made his way back to the cockpit. Ronon followed and took his seat. Teyla sat down on the bench opposite Rodney’s.

John settled into his pilot’s chair and looked out over the bog from their perch above it. The area was shrouded in a smoky mist, so thick that it seemed nearly solid. He tried to see a sign of activity, but the blanket of fog obscured everything.

Instead, he brought up the HUD and tried to find some trace of Ancient technology. Ronon leaned back and apparently tried to take a nap.

When the survey found only the ‘welcome center’ – as it had for every other survey they’d taken at this planet – he started on the standard set of system checks, just to keep busy.

After he’d gone through a half dozen, Rodney barked out an annoyed, “Can you please stop that?”

“Huh?” Sheppard responded.

“Please, I can see everything you’re doing,” Rodney said tiredly. “Just… just stop for a minute, okay?”

“Oh,” John said, shutting down the systems. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Obviously,” Rodney grumbled as he sat up and slung his legs on the ground. Teyla came to his side. She handed him some aspirin and a bottle of water.

Once he’d downed the pills, he shoved himself upward. Sheppard found it disconcerting that Rodney hadn’t yet opened his eyes as he shambled toward him.

“Feeling better?” Sheppard asked as Rodney wavered, and Teyla stayed near his side.

“It still feels as if my head's about to split open,” Rodney told them as he came into the cockpit. Teyla brought him to the seat he’d occupied earlier, and Rodney reached out to touch the back of the chair. “That was murder on the head.” He finally opened his eyes. “Did we land?” he asked.

“Yeah. I was waiting for you before we did anything else,” Sheppard explained. “Since you are the guy who’s going to show us the way.”

“Where did we land?”

“On one of the cliffs. We’re looking out over the bog.”

“Lovely,” Rodney stated as he leaned on his chair.

“Can you see anything?” Sheppard asked.

“Just the jumper,” Rodney replied. “You’re going to have to take it up again so we can check it out.”

“Roger,” Sheppard responded, and brought the ship to life again. “We’ll take a cruise over the bog. You sing out if you see anything.”

“Gotcha,” Rodney responded as he continued to press his weight against the chair and let his head bob. “There’s the welcome station,” Rodney said, pointing in the murk of the bog.

The HUD came up and the sensors found the station, but to the normal human eye, there was nothing but a cover of fog.

Sheppard glanced to McKay and asked, “You finding anything else at that location? Does it extend underground?”

Rodney frowned as he concentrated and tried to look beyond the simple set of structures. “No. There’s nothing there except what we saw on the surface. The complex shouldn’t be too far. You’d think the Ancients would have enough sense to keep the destination nearby after they’ve blinded one of their people.”

“True,” Sheppard remarked, “But it is a ‘hidden’ facility, so it might be a little out of the way.”

“Take her out further and go for a spin around the bog,” Rodney declared, twirling a finger around.

Sheppard shook his head. “Going out for a spin,” he responded and took the jumper into a slow turn.

There was just bog. Bog and mist and cliffs, and Rodney pointed. “There!” he said, his voice filled with excitement as he edged forward until he was beside Sheppard. He pointed at the gray. “It’s huge. It goes on for well over a mile in that direction.”

Sheppard saw nothing but a cliff disappearing into the mist. He called up the HUD again, but the jumper’s sensors found nothing. A glance toward Rodney told him that there was no reason to ask him if he was ‘sure’. Rodney’s expression showed his earnestness, his delight. There was something there.

“How do we get there?” Sheppard asked.

“Down,” McKay told him. “We need to go down. The entrance is there.”

“Must be at the base of the cliff,” Ronon surmised.

“So,” Sheppard started. “Do we land the jumper at the top and rappel down? Or do we chance landing on the bog?”

“Rappel?” Rodney repeated, a quaver to his voice. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just land near the entrance?”

“I could put the jumper in a hover and lower you down. I don’t trust that bog.”

“All the more reason to keep the jumper close!” Rodney stated.

Sheppard had to agree. “We’ll check it out. If I can find some solid ground, I’ll land. Should be rock at the bottom of the cliff.”

He steered the ship downward, plunging it into the gloom of the fog as Rodney continued to point the way. The world around them dimmed as they drew near the surface, and visibility shortened.

“We’re almost there. Okay, okay, slow down. Now, move a little to the left, a little more, now down a bit – down.”

“Rodney, give me a second to check out the landing area here.”

“Oh yeah. But, we're there.” Rodney continued to point, his hand trembling a little. “The entrance is right in front of us.”

Sheppard frowned at the cliff wall that faced them. “Where?”

“There!” McKay responded. “You should see a door, or a control panel, or the outline of an Ancient device. Can’t you see it?”

“There’s nothing there, McKay,” Ronon stated.

Teyla put in, “It must be shielded in some way.”

“Yeah, I was afraid of that,” Sheppard responded scanned the area, and let out a satisfied sound. “I think I found a landing place,” he said as he nodded to a rocky looking area in the otherwise spongy bog. “I’m going to take her down.”

“Good!” Rodney nodded. “Yeah, this will work much better than that other idea of yours.” He rubbed his hands together excitedly, and then paused as he slammed one hand back onto the chair back to catch his balance.

“Rodney?” Teyla called anxiously.

“I’m okay. I’m okay,” Rodney responded, wincing a little. “I think I’m going to sit down for a bit,” he declared, fumbling toward the seat.

“You do that,” Sheppard told him as he frowned at the stone wall in front of them.

Clumsily, Rodney found his seat and rested his head in his hands. “God, this headache sucks,” he grumbled.

Sheppard and the others watched him with concern as he massaged his temples.

Ronon stood after a moment. “I’m going to go scout around,” he declared. “Just see what’s going on out there.”

Knowing that Ronon didn’t care for confined spaces, Sheppard nodded. “Don’t go far,” he instructed.

“Probably won’t,” Ronon told him, and gestured toward the rear hatch of the jumper. Sheppard activated the control, and the doorway opened.

Sheppard watched him go toward the hatch, then returned his attention to Rodney, who hadn’t lifted his head yet. Damn, it sucked to see Rodney like this. The man was still far too pale and shaky.

“Not getting any better?” Sheppard asked, trying not to sound too concerned.

“Yeah, it’s getting better,” Rodney said. “Can you shut down the extra systems? I think they’re burning a hole through my head right now.”

“Shutting down,” Sheppard stated as he turned off what he could. They sat in the jumper and did nothing. The dim foggy light streamed through the front window. Sheppard looked to Teyla who was watching Rodney. Rodney kept his head on the console.

Great, Sheppard thought. This was going to be one hell of a day. They sat in the silence of the jumper that sat in the bog.

“Sheppard!” Ronon shouted as he roared back onto the hatch.

“What?” Sheppard called. Teyla stood at attention, moving closer to Rodney. McKay continued to hunch.

“Gotta move,” Ronon told him. “We’re sinking.”

PART 7: BRIGHT  
“Sinking? Great,” Sheppard responded, slamming the control to close the hatch as the jumper systems came alive again. “Let’s get out of here.” He touched the ‘lift’ controls and frowned as the jumper shuddered but remained in place.

He tried again with the same result. “What the hell?”

“It’s no good,” Rodney stated, sitting up and looking back toward the drive pods. “They can’t extend.”

“I’ll make them extend,” Sheppard growled as he tried yet again. The jumper growled in return.

“No, no, you don’t understand,” Rodney stated. “They’re jammed in place. The mechanism probably has no room to work. How far have we been depressed into the mud?” He spoke to the location where Ronon had last been heard.

“About a foot,” Ronon replied from the front of the jumper, which made Rodney spin about to face him.

“What?” Rodney shook his head. “This is not good. Not good!”

“How do we free them, Rodney?” Sheppard asked as he reset the systems to try again.

“We free them by getting out of the mud!” Rodney snapped.

“Great,” Sheppard sighed. “I knew we should have tried lowering you down on ropes. Damn it!”

“This isn’t my fault!” Rodney spat out. “You’re the one who chose the landing site. I couldn’t see anything to help with that blunder.”

Sheppard scowled. “What if we just fire the engines? They'll dry the mud, which should make the mud contract or at least become more brittle and we should be able to blast free.”

“The drive pods are retracted,” Rodney said, with a frantic attempt on patience. “You can’t fire them up when they’re inside the ship! The fail safes won’t allow it because if you DID try something so ridiculous, it'd turn this thing into a dutch oven! We'd cook!” He turned again, toward Ronon. “Did you say that we’ve already sank a foot?”

But Ronon had moved again, edging toward the closed rear of the ship. “At least a foot. The gangplank wouldn’t lie flat. Didn’t notice it when I got off. Seemed a lot worse when I came back.”

Rodney groaned, “Oh God, we’re sinking into the bog. We’re going to become like those bog people in Ireland. The jumper will sink and sink and be buried forever. Our skin will become like leather. We won’t decompose. We’ll be turned into weird mummy people and be discovered centuries later by explorers who’ll put us in a museum and visitors will come by to gawk at us and try to figure out what we were doing in a death box in the middle of a bog!”

“Rodney, knock it off!” Sheppard cut him off. “What can we do to fix this?”

“Nothing,” Rodney replied, shaking his head. “There’s nothing we can do if the bog is holding the drive pods in place.”

“But the ground is like soup! How can it be holding the mechanisms still?” Sheppard countered.

“It’s dense soup,” Rodney told him. “More like chili.”

“Or quicksand,” Sheppard sighed.

Rodney stiffened at this thought. “Yeah. Quicksand. Who would have thought it?” He gripped his head. “I thought being blind was bad enough, but being blind in a jumper that’s going down in quicksand! What a horrible, horrible way to die.”

Sheppard activated the rear hatch and made his way back. He frowned when he noted the angle of the ramp once it stopped moving – it was almost horizontal.

“What’s going on,” Rodney asked. “You activated the hatch. I heard you walk past. Sheppard, was that you walking past?”

“Grab your stuff,” Sheppard grumbled. “We’re getting out.”

Teyla and Ronon moved smoothly, finding their packs, and then opening the hatches to look for emergency equipment. Ronon grabbed an armload of bandages and packed them, then found a long loop of rope. Teyla packed MREs and whatever else she could find.

Rodney felt for his pack and drew it up into his lap. “What if the bog beast returns? I don’t know if I want to be out there.”

“Would you rather be sunk under several feet of bog?” Sheppard asked as he grabbed Rodney’s arm. “We’re going. Besides, the secret entrance to the secret lab is right here. We should be safe inside, right?”

Rodney brightened. “Yes! Let’s get moving,” he responded, letting Sheppard shove him toward the rear.

Wordlessly, Ronon took over for him, grasping onto Rodney’s arm and pulling him toward the ramp.

Sheppard went back to collecting what he could carry. How much of this stuff would they need?

As Ronon led Rodney out, the scientist paused, and called over his shoulder, “Sheppard, you’re not going to something stupid like ‘go down with the ship’? Because, that would be asinine.”

“Get out of here, Rodney. I’ll be right behind you.”

“You’d better,” Rodney grumbled.

“Move, McKay,” Ronon ordered, and tugged him from the ramp and onto the bog.

Rodney paused as his feet sunk into the soil “Great,” he said, sighing in resignation. “This again. I was really looking forward to this part of the mission.”

Satisfied that he’d packed everything necessary, Sheppard turned toward the exit. It was unsettling to note that the rear of the jumper was lower than the front, and he had to walk downhill to get out. By the time he reached the hatch, the ramp was now tilted upward, pointing into the air. He frowned to see dark mud flowing into the lowest part of the jumper at the hatch. He moved to stand beside Ronon and the rest of his team.

Around them, frogs put up a ruckus as if offended by their predicament.

Rodney turned his head slowly, asking, “What’s happening? Is everyone out? Is Sheppard out yet? Maybe you should go check on him, Ronon. He’s can be stupidly stubborn about some things and I’m afraid he as some weird aspirations of grandeur when it comes to sinking vessels.”

“I’m out,” Sheppard responded.

“Oh, oh, Good,” Rodney said with a relieved smile, that was replaced with an anxious look. “You should seal up the jumper,” he said, pointing.

“Yeah, sealing it,” Sheppard echoed as he activated the remote device, and the hatch began to close. Good, he thought. Good. This was going to be okay.

Still, he wasn’t surprised when the hatch came to a halt -- a good foot or two left before it shut completely.

Teyla asked, “It will not close any further?”

Before Sheppard could answer, Rodney responded, “Too much strain. There’s probably buckets of mud in the mechanisms now. I could have told you that it wouldn’t work.”

Sheppard tried again, activating the remote, but nothing happened. Mud and muck were flowing inside. The rear of the jumper kept slurping its way deeper into the bog, easing its way into the ooze.

“What’s it doing?” Rodney called. “I can see the jumper tipping but… is it really sinking?” He turned toward Ronon who still had a grip on his arm. “Tell me it isn’t really sinking.”

Ronon grunted unhappily.

Rodney let out a beleaguered cry, “You can’t sink a jumper into a bog! It’s just not right!”

Sheppard tore his gaze from the sight and looked out over the surface of the bog that steamed and simmered and hid the unknowns. “Come on,” he said tiredly, “Nothing we can do here. Let’s at least get under cover and into this secret lab.” Sheppard turned his back on the scene and headed toward the hidden doorway that Rodney had indicated earlier. The others followed.  
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They scrabbled along the base of the cliff, where the fallen rocks had formed a firmer layer over the bog. They could walk without sinking.

“There! We have to go in that direction,” Rodney stated, lifting a hand and pointing to a spot about ten feet up on the cliff. He stumbled a bit as his foot caught a rock and he cursed under his breath.

Ronon regarded the direction that McKay had indicated, then nodded toward a location in front of them. “We’re going to have to start this way.”

“Which way?” Rodney asked, turning toward Ronon.

The big man sighed.

“Seriously, I’m going to need better directions than that.”

“We’re going to walk along the cliff about 100 feet,” Sheppard told him. “Looks like there may be a trail.”

“But the entrance is there!” Rodney whined, pointing again to the wall above them.

Sheppard frowned at the spot. There was nothing there but featureless stone. The Ancients really knew how to mess with people, he thought. “Unless you’re Spider-man, we’re going to have to use the trail,” Sheppard told him.

Rodney frowned, not satisfied with the response.

“Come on,” Ronon declared, grasping Rodney’s arm. “We go up this way and then we can double back.”

“Up which way?” Rodney moaned.

Ronon turned him in the right direction. “This way. Come on.” And he started moving Rodney in the right direction, toward the narrow path that edged the cliff.

Sheppard fell in alongside them with Teyla following. When they reached the base of the path, Ronon took the lead, keeping Rodney between himself and Sheppard. The path was wide enough for a man to easily walk, but Sheppard had to curse the Ancients for again. The way was strewn with loose rock, making it difficult to get good footing.

Who in their right minds would force a blind man to climb such a thing? Ass-hats, he decided, total ass-hats.

Rodney kept one hand on the cliff wall, finding handholds along the way. He placed each foot carefully before he trusted himself to move forward. Rocks skittered out from under his feet and he muttered as he walked. They weren’t far from the bottom. The path’s incline was slight and they weren’t going to get very high, but any fall would be disastrous if Rodney took a bad step.

Sheppard walked directly behind him, keeping a hand on Rodney’s exposed side, ready to redirect him if he took a step in the wrong direction. He listened to Rodney’s quiet droning of reassurances to himself, “You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.”

Rodney stumbled, trying to fight his way along the path. He came to a stop when he found his footing again, clutching to the cliff wall with one hand as he panted.

“You’re doing fine, Rodney,” Teyla told him from behind.

“Yeah, Rodney,” Sheppard added. “Just keep going. Sooner we get out of here the better.”

“Do you have any idea how hard this is?” Rodney snapped. “I don’t think I can go much further. It’s nearly impossible.”

“It’s not impossible because you’re doing it,” Sheppard responded.

Rodney replied as he turned toward Sheppard, “Just don’t tell me that we’re facing a steep drop off or anything, okay? I don’t think I’d handle that well.”

Sheppard said nothing, looking downward. It wouldn’t be fatal if they fell, but it sure would leave a mark.

His lack of response didn’t help matters. “There is a long drop off, isn’t there? Oh God!” Rodney’s feet skittered as he tried to keep his balance, nearly toppling onto Sheppard. “We’re going to die here!”

“We’re not going to die!” Sheppard responded, shoving him back toward the rock wall. “Seriously, Rodney, it’s only about three feet down. And I thought you said that you didn’t want to know.”

“A man can easily fracture bones on a three foot fall!” Rodney told him. “And knowing my luck, I’m just the guy to do it.”

Ronon looked around McKay from his position in front and gave Sheppard a shrug, letting him know that with McKay, anything was possible.

Rodney went on, “Remember, I’m the lucky sap that got blinded by a stupid view screen and I’m pretty sure that’s more than three feet.” He pointed downward for emphasis.

“Look, we’re almost there,” Sheppard told him, getting close enough to ensure that no one fell from that height.

“It’s probably closer to a six feet drop off, isn’t it?”

Ronon nodded from the lead position.

Rodney went on with, “That is NOT three feet.”

“Rodney,” Teyla reassured. “You will be fine. The path is wide enough and we are watching out for you.”

Rodney turned to face forward again and jammed an elbow into Sheppard’s gut. John swore.

Surprised, Rodney spun toward him again.

Sheppard tried not to get angry with Rodney when the arm came up again and almost cracked him across the jaw, and then he came damn close to stepping over the edge.

Firmly, Sheppard grabbed hold of the errant arm and shoved it downward, keeping the man pushed toward the safe side of the trail. “Knock that off!” he shouted. “Stop being an idiot and let me lead you. Quit flapping your arms around!”

“I’m just trying to catch my balance,” Rodney muttered quietly. “I don’t want to fall.”

“I won’t let you fall,” Sheppard responded. “Just trust me, okay?”

Rodney sighed, but he let Sheppard continue to take him along the cliff path, following Ronon.

If Teyla had something to say, she kept it to herself as she followed.

Suddenly, McKay jerked to a stop. “Hang on! Wait! We’re here!”

Ronon, a few steps ahead, halted and looked back at them. Sheppard let Rodney turn them toward the rocky cliff that they’d been following. “Don’t you see it?” Rodney asked, gesturing.

John squinted where Rodney had pointed. Rock. Just the rocky wall of the cliff. “Nothing’s there,” Sheppard told him.

“Really?” Rodney returned. “There’s an arch. It starts here and comes up this way.” He pointed along the rocks. “Ends over here. You can see no sign of it?” He sounded incredulous.

“Not a trace,” Sheppard said.

McKay pulled his pack from his back and began fumbling through the pockets. He drew his hand back quickly after a moment, sputtering, “For the love of… why do you have to do that?”

“Do what?”

McKay pulled out the rubber chicken and thrust it at Sheppard. John grinned to see it again.

“Would you please give it a rest? It’s not as if I don’t have a dozen other things to think about right now.”

“Fine,” Sheppard said, snatching it from his grasp.

McKay frowned unhappily and went back to rooting through his pack. Finally, he pulled out the scanner and grinned at his success.

As Sheppard carefully slipped the chicken back into McKay’s pack, Rodney turned on the scanner and the screen lit up. For a moment or two, the scientist just blinked, not really looking at the device. He seemed to gaze above it, as if the information he sought was floating around it.

He gave the scanner a discontented rap on the side before declaring, “You’re right. It's not finding anything here.”

“Told ya,” Sheppard remarked.

Rodney frowned. “It’s very strange. I can clearly see the entrance, but the scanner can’t find it. Whatever this is, it was meant to be hidden from everyone. Only someone with my ability can find this door.”

“One does not always understand the ways of the Ancestors,” Teyla said philosophically.

“You got that right,” Sheppard returned.

McKay went on. “We should be able to walk right through it here.” And he took a determined stride forward.

Sheppard, still clasping Rodney’s arm, made a frantic attempt to pull him back before he beaned his head on the stone. But he was too late, the man ran directly into the rock – and through it.

John didn’t release his hold, and went along with him -- for a second there was blackness – and then light, lots of bright light.  
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Ronon snapped out a hand, trying to grab hold of McKay to still him before he ran face first into the rock wall, but McKay eluded him and disappeared. Sheppard went right with him.

Ronon regarded the solid looking rock for a moment, then took a step forward, determined to follow, and did exactly what he’d been trying to prevent. He conked his head on the rock. He staggered backward.

Teyla placed a hand at his back to still his movements and keep him on the path. “Ronon? Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” the Satedan mumbled unhappily as he scrubbed at his forehead.

Teyla gave him a sympathetic look before she moved forward and carefully touched the stone where the others had disappeared. It was solid. She could feel no way through it. Her hand shot up to her radio. “John?” she called. “Rodney!” Her other hand continued to run along the surface of the rock – searching.

There was a crackle, and then a voice responded, “Hey, where are you guys?”

“John, we cannot pass through the wall,” she told him. “Have you made it safely to the other side?”

“Safe, yeah. We’re safe but… God…” John's voice sounded strained.

“What’s wrong?” Teyla asked, her voice tense.

“I can hardly see in there. Rodney, can you figure out how to kill the lights?”

“Kill the lights? You’ve got to be kidding!” Rodney responded.

“It’s bright as hell in here. I can’t open my eyes. Seriously, Rodney, figure out a way to dim them before I go blind…” And his voice trailed off.

“You appreciate the irony?”

Teyla continued to press on the stone. “Rodney, can you tell me of a way to get through the doorway?”

“It’s not letting you get through? That’s weird. Remember when we discovered that secret Wraith lab hidden to look like rocks? You should be able to walk right through it like that one.”

“Ronon has tried,” Teyla replied. “It would not allow him to pass. I cannot find a way through.”

There must be some sort of shield keeping you from entering and it’s probably keyed to the ATA gene," Rodney said. "Weird.”

“Yeah, weird,” Ronon added, rapping on the stone.

“Let me check on something,” Rodney declared. “Yes! I think I've found something.” And a happy sounding sigh. “This isn't going to help with the shield, but give me a few minutes to check it out."

"Rodney, we don't have time to mess around," Sheppard stated. "We need to get that down and you must turn off these lights. I can't see anything."

"Fine. There’s no panel here. I don’t see a means of deactivating it. 

“What do you want us to do?” Teyla asked.

“Stay put,” Sheppard told her. “Rodney and I are going to keep looking. We’ll see if we can’t find a way to kill the shield, turn off these damn lights, and then you can join us.”

Ronon didn’t look happy with that response. He leaned on the rocks and glared out over the misty bog.

Teyla wasn’t pleased either, but she replied, “We will wait here until we hear further from you.”

“Sheppard out,” John announced, and the transmission was ended.

Ronon waited for a moment, and then shoved off from the rocks. He started making his way down the narrow path toward the base of the cliff.

“Ronon,” Teyla called. “We should remain here.”

He shrugged. “We can’t do anything,” he grumbled. “Might as well scout around. We can get back up here in a couple seconds if they figure out to shut down the shield.”

Teyla sighed and waited a moment or two longer, then followed him down to where the ground turned spongy again. She cast a glance toward the jumper, feeling sorry for the thing as it sat partially sunk in the mud. It didn’t appear to have disappeared any further, so there was hope of rescuing it. Still, it was a pity to see it in such a forlorn predicament.

Rodney had been correct – it just didn’t seem right to sink a jumper into a bog.

Ronon moved about the area. Teyla stayed at the base of the cliff, ready to move back toward the hidden entrance or in Ronon’s direction if necessary.

“They’ll be okay,” Ronon said as took one long-legged step to a firm-looking spot.

“Can you say that for certain?” she quizzed him.

The Satedan barked a laugh. “No,” he decided. “Can’t be certain. But until McKay figures out how to shut down that shield, we’re trapped out here. They have radios. They’ll call us if they need us.”

“This is true,” Teyla agreed solemnly. She watched Ronon move further from the cliff. She frowned as she watched his searching pattern. “You are trying to find the chubbock, are you not?”

He chucked. “Yeah,” he replied, pulling his blaster and pointing it out into the murkiness. “No sign of it yet.”

Teyla moved toward him, knowing that if the creature were to appear, it would be best if she were nearby to assist. “It would be best if you did not tempt fate.”

“It would be best if I killed the thing and we didn’t have to worry about it any more.”

Teyla couldn’t argue with that.

But the bog remained relatively quiet. Here and there, gasses belched at the surface of the thick lakes. Steam rose. Frogs croaked. Birds flapped lethargically. It was oddly peaceful.

Ronon continued to move, keeping near the entrance to the lab, not straying far from the foundered jumper. His blaster was kept ready as he watched for any sign of a large carnivorous beast.

Teyla continued to watch him. “It is not here,” she decided.

“It’s here,” Ronon responded. “I just have to figure out a way to get it out. It might need some encouragement.” And he smiled as he pointed the blaster toward the surface of a syrupy lake – and fired.

The shot went off into the bog, singeing the air and making it crackle. The frogs shut up instantly, half a dozen birds bolted from their trees, and a shadow rose from behind the Satedan.

“Ronon!” Teyla shouted.

He spun, and she brought her weapon to bear on the chubbock. Its head was white, and cadaverously free of hair. Its mouths split open to reveal needle sharp teeth as it emerged from one of the deep ponds.

Ronon fired as the thing dipped downward. It ducked under the surface, slapping the surface with its wretched tail before it disappeared, leaving a wake on the surface.

With a huge grin, the Satedan looked back at Teyla and started off after the beast – eager for the hunt.

She watched him with a frown, reminded of her brothers. She was determined to stay put and let him deal with the creature. And then she saw other things bob to the surface. More hideous white heads lifted. Slime dripped from their snouts as they hissed and darted off after the first.

Teyla shouted for Ronon and took off after him.

PART 8: BLIND REVISITED

Sheppard shuffled forward, his hand still on Rodney’s arm. He kept his head down and his eyes tightly shut against the glare, as Rodney led. “Have you figured out how to shut down these obnoxious lights yet?” Sheppard grumbled.

“Give me a minute… or two,” Rodney responded.

They paused, and Sheppard opened his eyes to a narrow squint, but could see little beyond the haloed shape of Rodney.

Rodney let out a discontent sigh. “No, this won’t do. There’s nothing here I can use. We’re going to head deeper into the complex.”

“Fine,” Sheppard grumbled. “Just figure it out and fast.”

“Sure, fine, why not?” McKay stated walking, taking Sheppard along with him. They took a turn, and then another. “This might take a while,” he murmured.

“The Ancients were total bastards,” Sheppard stated. He tried opening up one eye partially, and then the other. It really didn’t do any good.

Rodney sighed. “Some of their designs really make me wonder what they were thinking. I guess the overly bright lights are here to discourage unwanted guests. It’ll allow Ancient’s in, but only people with my ability can do anything. People like you would be helpless without me.”

“Well, I could have felt my way through eventually,” Sheppard responded confidently as he was promptly banged into a wall when they made a sharp turn. “Hey!”

“Sorry,” Rodney muttered. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Sheppard snapped as he ran a hand over his smarting face. “I would prefer not to be smacked into a wall in the future though.”

“Welcome to my world.” And they moved forward.

“You know where you’re going?” Sheppard asked.

“I’m following the neon lines,” Rodney told him. “I want to get to the control center and the lines seem to be ‘flowing’ in this direction. “

Then, as they moved from one area to another, the brightness diminished. Sheppard could feel the difference on his eyelids. They continued forward. Yes, it was definitely dimmer. Sheppard came to a halt and blinked his eyes. He smiled tightly, glad to be finally able to see again.

“Hey,” Rodney grumbled. “Let’s keep this show moving.”

“Hang on. Let me get my bearings.”

“Until I can figure out how to dim the lights, I’m the one with the ‘bearings’.”

“We’ve left the bright stuff behind.” Sheppard turned, seeing the opening to the overly-illuminated corridor behind them. “Damn, that was annoying. I think I can handle myself now.”

McKay let out a disconsolate, “Oh,” as he let go of Sheppard. “Good for you.” Rodney’s eyes still failed to focus on anything as he turned to face the direction they’d been heading. “Two minutes of being unable to see and he’s annoyed with it.”

Sheppard grimaced, sorry for bringing it up. They were in a long barren hallway with corridors branching off. It all looked rather dim and uninviting.

“You’re sure this is the way?” Sheppard asked.

“Yes! Yes, I am.” Rodney set his arms akimbo. “I’m certain that this is the right way to the control center. Or at least, I’m pretty sure. The neon lines haven’t lied yet.” He smiled smugly. “Once we get there, I can shut down the lights and put down the shield.”

“So, how far do we have to go?” Sheppard asked.

“Not certain,” McKay responded. He turned in the direction they’d been headed and he seemed to focus on a distant point. He lifted a finger, pointing. The finger dipped and moved as he figured the way through. “This place really is a maze,” he muttered.

“Well, at least we’re out of those bright lights.” Sheppard smiled. “I can help you navigate.”

Rodney did not look happy. “I was handling it quite well on my own, except for when you rammed yourself into a wall, and that was totally not my fault.”

“Right,” Sheppard responded. “Well, the sooner we get to the control room, sooner we can let the others in.” At that thought, he frowned, and reached for his radio. “Teyla, Ronon? What’s your status?”

“Running,” Ronon responded.

“Running? From what?” Rodney cut in.

“Bog beasts,” Ronon replied.

Rodney looked alarmed. “Did he say beasts – plural?”

They could hear the sound of feet slapping and slurping in the muck, of panting breaths. Teyla shouted, “Ronon, look out!” and there was the sound of blaster fire.

“Damn it!” Sheppard hissed as he turned to face the too-bright hallway. “Come on, we’re going back! We can get back through the shield to reach them, can’t we?”

“I don’t know why not,” Rodney stated as he held out an arm. “Grab hold. I’ll get us back there.” And he started to backtrack.

It was then that Sheppard saw something that made his skin crawl.

“Stop!” he shouted, his hand coming down hard on Rodney’s arm.

“What?” Rodney squeaked, looking around frantically.

John gave a great yank, hard enough to pull the scientist off balance and into the wall.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Come on! They need our help! I have to lead!” Rodney sputtered as he shoved off the wall and turned toward the exit. “I thought I was the blind one.”

But Sheppard grabbed him in a bruising grip and spun him in the other direction. “Run!” he shouted, giving Rodney a shove. Goddamn! Those things had been in the corridor the whole time?

Rodney stumbled forward a few steps and started trotting. “What? What’s going on?” he called.

Sheppard remained in place a moment longer, drawing his weapon as the horrifying shapes emerged from the bright hallway. He aimed, but didn’t fire. Too many. There were too damn many.

Rodney had stopped. “Sheppard?” he asked shakily. “What’s happening? Come on, you have to give me a clue.”

Sheppard ran the few paces to reach Rodney. He felt sick thinking that the creatures had been there as he and Rodney blindly groped past. He pulled Rodney along. “They’re coming! Run!”

“Who’s coming? What?” Rodney cried again. “I can’t tell. Please…”

“Iratus bugs,” Sheppard spit out the name. “A lot of them.”

McKay swallowed in terror and quickened his pace. The two ran deeper into the complex.  
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Ronon fired at one of the chubbocks. It screamed horribly before diving back into the dark water lake. Another came at him and he twisted to take a shot at it.

Beside him, Teyla was firing as well. A creature hissed as it dove past her and she put two rounds into its hide before it disappeared into the thick water.

They were insidious and clever, and apparently had very thick skins. They lurked just beneath the surface of the scummy, opaque ponds, swimming in close before they attacked, putting Ronon and Teyla on the defensive.

The two were standing in a very bad position, sinking slowly into the mire.

“I didn’t think there there’d be so many of them,” Ronon said.

“Neither did I,” Teyla responded.

“Legend always made it sound like there’d be just one.”

“The legends were wrong,” Teyla decided.

They stood, back to back as two chubbocks leaped at the same time, determined to reach their faces. Ronon fired at the first, while the other came at Teyla. She couldn’t outmaneuver the thing and it slashed at her arm. She shouted, more in anger than in pain and fired at the thing as it disappeared.

Three lines of red formed on her arm as she searched the surface of the pond.

Another creature leaped at Ronon and he fired his blaster. Teyla couldn’t chance turning to watch. He grunted and the creature screamed.

Almost instantly, another of the chubbocks jumped at her from below, slashing with razor sharp claws. She ducked, only to fall for the trick as another came up from the pond and sliced cruelly at her hip.

She shrieked, enraged as she curled to protect her bleeding side and fired at the thing. It gave a horrible cry and plunged into the waters.

The creatures were everywhere, far more than Teyla had thought possible. Her breath quickened with old fears. They hid. She couldn’t see them. She couldn’t predict them.

The chubbocks moved through their world with ease, choosing their attacks.

Teyla shifted, knowing that she was sinking further into the muck. The creatures had trapped them. The beasts weren’t stupid.

They had to move. They had to get out of this area. The water surrounding them was too deep. The chubbocks had plenty of room to maneuver.

“We must leave,” she declared.

“Yeah,” Ronon responded.

“Where?” Teyla asked. They’d been herded farther from the cliff. It would take some time to get back to the safety of the rocks.

“Come on,” Ronon ordered brusquely, and they moved, edging their way toward a small grove of trees.

As she turned to Ronon, she finally got a good look at him. He was bleeding from his knee down, and had a gash at his shoulder. She clutched at her hurt hip as they moved, doing their best to reach the possible safety of the trees. 

PART 9: NIGHTMARE  
Rodney ran where Sheppard directed him. He gasped, trying to keep up the pace as they went down the neon-lit hallway. It sucked!

Iratus bugs, another of his nightmares. Rodney never had been able to scrub the image from his mind of that dark cave, filled with the creatures. He shuddered at the thought of them.

Sheppard suddenly tried to turn them, and Rodney only narrowly avoided careening into a wall. Sheppard wasn’t as lucky. His impact was loud.

“Shit!” Sheppard shouted. “What the hell?”

“I was about to say the same thing,” McKay sputtered in disbelief, shoving away from the wall. “What are you doing? Trying to kill us both?”

“This is an opening to a corridor!” And John banged on something – probably the wall they’d just run into. “We have to get out of this main hall.”

McKay turned, and quickly spotted the next offshoot. “Here!” he declared as he ran, clasping onto Sheppard and taking him the half-dozen steps. “We’ll just turn here.”

But Sheppard balked for a second, but he let Rodney bring him around the corner. “God, that’s freaky,” Sheppard murmured. “I swear, we just walked through a solid wall.”

Before Rodney could say anything, Sheppard shoved him to the ground, shouting, “Damn it! Damn it!”

Rodney let out a shriek as a P90 went off just over his head. The gunfire echoed. He panted, freaked out.

“Stay down!” Sheppard ordered.

“What’s happening?” Rodney cried, hating that he had to ask the question yet again.

“We’ve got more iratus bugs!” Sheppard hissed.

Sheppard fired his weapon again so close to Rodney’s head that his ears rung. All he could do was duck, cover his ears, and hope. He was so worthless in this situation -- just like when they were attacked by the bog beast. It was like a horrible dream to be stuck in this situation again.

“What the hell are the bugs doing in here?” Sheppard shouted.

“Are they gone?”

“Yes, for now.”

“Maybe a colony of them has been trapped in here all this time,” Rodney tried. “The Ancients created this place for Wraith research. They might have used the Iratus bugs as part of the experiment. Those freak bugs like caves and such, so maybe they stuck around when the experiment ended.”

Sheppard grumbled, “The bugs don’t like light! They definitely shouldn’t have been in the bright room.”

Rodney sat up at this comment. “And, I can’t hear them. Can you?”

Sheppard was silent, leaving Rodney to wonder what the colonel was doing, what was he thinking? Damn, Rodney hated this.

McKay plowed on. “I know I don’t have super senses or anything, but hearing is pretty much all I have right now. They didn’t make any sound. Shouldn’t they make sound?”

“It’s an illusion,” Sheppard said, wonder in his voice. “Son of a bitch.”

He heard Sheppard stand, and he started to follow.

“Stay put,” Sheppard ordered.

Rodney glowered. “I can maneuver better than YOU in here.”

“Just stay there!” Sheppard snapped.

“Great. Fine,” Rodney grumbled. He was left with nothing but the neon and the sound of Sheppard moving about. He listened to the colonel. Heard him run into something and try to stifle a curse.

“You okay?” Rodney asked the darkness.

“Stay put!” was Sheppard’s response.

So, Rodney looked at the lines. The Tron-like lines were almost beautiful when he sat quietly and watched them. They flowed like water, like living things. He had to concentrate on them, then they’d outlined everything so perfectly. It was like he was in the middle of a three-dimensional schematic, as if he was part of a tremendous equation.

He concentrated, looking further into the complex, watching the lines as they shot out, showing him the way. They were perfect. It was lovely and precise.

There was a scuffing sound as if the colonel was kicking at something, and some more swearing, and then the sound of footsteps returning.

Rodney lifted his head toward the sound. “How far did you go?”

“I was just over there, Rodney. I had you in sight the whole time,” Sheppard told him.

“Is it okay?”

“Okay is not the word for it. This is seriously creeping me out,” Sheppard muttered. Something touched Rodney's arm. “Come on, get up,” Sheppard commanded.

He let John help him to his feet.

“I can clearly see the bastards,” Sheppard went on. “It looks as if more are coming at us right now!” There was a ‘smack’ as Sheppard hit something nearby – a wall perhaps -- and then a grumble.

With a nod, Rodney said, “And this is exactly why that device blinded me. The Ancient’s didn’t want to be distracted by these illusions. They images are probably preprogrammed -- Ancient boogey monster type things.”

“And we’re stuck in the funhouse.” There was another sound of Sheppard striking a surface. “They’re damn convincing,” the colonel muttered. Then he sighed. “So, the illusions are probably why I’m seeing hallways where there aren’t any.”

“And missing the ones that are really there,” McKay completed.

“This place sucks.”

“Yeah,” Rodney agreed, then asked, “Now that we know it’s only illusions, do we go back to help Ronon and Teyla?”

Sheppard groaned. “We might do more good by shutting down the shield and illusions so that they can get in here. How much further to the control room?”

“Ten minutes maybe.”

Sheppard activated his radio, “Ronon, Teyla, report your status. Where are you?”  
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“Tree,” Ronon said.

“What?” Sheppard’s voice crackled over the radio.

“We are currently both in trees,” Teyla filled in, trying to find a comfortable position on her branch. It was an uncommonly bumpy one.

“How did you get into trees?” Rodney asked, sounding a little outraged at the idea. “Seriously, who climbs trees?”

“We climbed them,” Ronon told him. He’d found a sturdy branch to perch on, and fixed one hand to the branch above him as he leaned forward, trying to find a target.

“We needed to get above the surface of the bog,” Teyla informed. She sighed as she watched something move in the nearby lake. “We believe that the chubbocks are not capable of following us.”

“You believe?” McKay replied. “Climbing a tree is crazy. If they were real opossums, you’d be in big trouble right now – big, big trouble. Because, an opossum on Earth can climb a tree faster than…”

“McKay!” Sheppard cut him off, and then addressed the others. “What’s the status of these creatures?”

“Some are dead,” Ronon asked.

McKay spoke again, “Are you sure they’re dead, because possums are known for, you know, playing possum.”

“I blew a few heads off,” Ronon explained. “That’s usually dead. There’s a bunch still alive.”

“A bunch?” Sheppard remarked. “Just how many is ‘a bunch’?”

“A lot,” Ronon replied, glaring out at the movements under the bog surface. He seemed to be growing tired with the conversation.

“The numbers seem to be increasing steadily,” Teyla informed the others. “I believe we may have killed six of the creatures and there may be as many as twelve remaining.”

Ronon pointed into the distance. “More coming.”

She looked out, seeing movement in the distance as more creatures drew close. The things slithered over the surface when the ground would hold them, and then ducked down into the ponds when it would not.

“There may be as many as fifteen in a moment,” Teyla told them.

“Fifteen bog beasts?” Rodney repeated.

“Maybe eighteen,” Ronon stated. “But I’m not counting.”

“Are you okay?” the colonel asked.

Teyla sighed, touching the painful slash across her hip, feeling the pull of the other wound on her arm. She had tried to bandage them, but the field dressings weren’t designed for such long scratches, and they did little to help. She’d contained the bleeding, worried that the creatures might be drawn to it. Ronon had a supply of bandages in his pack, but he was too busy trying to kill the creatures to attend to his wounds.

The wounds weren’t fatal, but the pain in her hip made it difficult to crouch on the branches. Teyla sat instead.

Ronon hardly seemed to notice the blood that dripped down his leg and arm. From the look of things, the wounds were deeper than hers.

She wished that she could reach him, to help him take care of his injuries, but he was in another tree, and the chubbocks would not allow her to move from one to the other. At the moment, she was glad that she could still sit upright on the branch.

“Teyla? Are you okay?” Sheppard repeated.

“We are fine,” she told Sheppard.

“We’re coming,” Sheppard said decisively, apparently hearing something in her tone that he didn’t like.

“Don’t bother,” Ronon quickly stated, jerking his head upright. “We’re fine.” He looked a little angry at their decision.

“Colonel, we are in a safe location,” Teyla told them. “If you have nearly reached the destination, then you should continue. It is the reason we came.” And she let the implications of that hang.

“Not much you could do anyways,” Ronon added.

“Ronon is right,” Teyla stated. “The entrance to the outpost is some distance from us. You would be out of range.”

“Right,” Sheppard returned, sounding torn. “We’ll keep moving and see if we can figure a way to get you out of there. We might find something here. You sit tight in your… tree. Call us if anything happens.”

“Yeah,” Ronon replied, taking a shot at a form that surfaced. It went right back down. “Nine down,” he muttered. He glanced to Teyla and muttered. "I hate just sitting here."

"I know," Teyla said with a sigh.

"Would rather be doing something worthwhile," Ronon added, aiming at a shape in the bog. "I don't like being trapped."

"Nor do I," Teyla responded. "But, at the moment, we have little choice in the matter."

PART 10: ILLUSIONS

“Okay,” said Sheppard, kicking at one the detestable bugs that seemed to crowd them. “Let’s get to the control room so we can get the rest of the team out of a tree.”

“On it,” Rodney responded. He seemed to look around. “This way will be quickest.” And he started down the hallway. He paused after a step and said, “Ah, you’d better hang onto me. Those illusions might fire up again.”

“They’re still here, Rodney,” Sheppard grumbled, quelling the urge to smash another non-existent nemesis. It scuttled toward him again on its awful legs, and Sheppard moved out of the way.

“Oh well. Ignore it. It won’t hurt you.” And Rodney put out his elbow, like a father inviting a child to go for a walk.

Sheppard reluctantly grasped the offered arm. Rodney smiled, seeming quite pleased with himself. But Sheppard couldn’t help but feel disturbed by Rodney’s eyes that never focused him.

“Ready?” McKay asked.

“Move it,” Sheppard told him.

And so they started moving again. Sheppard did his best not to lurch backward when McKay seemed determined to slam them into walls, and into shut doors. He tried to ignore the horrible bugs that clambered everywhere, that seemed about to jump out at him like cats that were always leaping out of closets in bad horror flicks.

They turned a corner and entered another corridor. Almost instantly, John's gaze was drawn to the ceiling. Something was wrong.

He stared, trying to figure it out, when suddenly, the ceiling shifted. It wobbled.

He paused, trying to get a grip on what was happening when it started to peel away from the far side of the corridor. The whole thing was coming down.

“Crap!”

With a shout of anger, colonel threw himself at Rodney as it came down, forcing the scientist to the ground. Rodney cried out in surprise as wreckage rained and dust rose. Sheppard covered his head and crouched over Rodney, coughing at the expected irritation.

“Why’d you do that?” Rodney cried as he tried to shake off Sheppard’s weight.

Sheppard blinked and frowned at the debris-strewn corridor. It was real. There were chunks of construction materials everywhere. Dust filtered through the air. Big slabs of material were scattered -- pieces large enough to have split open either of their heads. Above them, a hole gaped. It looked damn real. The fact that he wasn’t bruised and bleeding seemed impossible.

But, the collapse had made no sound. 

Damn. 

It had been like watching a silent movie. Silent movies always disturbed Sheppard a little.

He stopped coughing.

“What happened?” Rodney quizzed, trying to untangle himself from Sheppard and his pack.

“Ceiling fell,” Sheppard admitted.

Rodney tipped back his head. “No,” he said. “See? The lines are still there.”

“I know it didn’t actually fall,” Sheppard groused. “Damn it, but it looked real! It looked like the whole thing was caving in on us.”

“How can you believe something when it’s completely silent?” Rodney posed as he finally managed to get out from under the colonel. He looked thoroughly put out.

Sheppard shrugged. “A guy just reacts,” he said as he sat up with his back against the wall. He made an attempt to kick some of the debris out of the way, but connected with nothing. Stupid illusion!

At least the damn bugs were gone. He shuddered, hoping that they didn’t return.

“And now I’m bruised because of you,” Rodney muttered, pulling at the material of his jacket sleeve. “Does this look swollen?” he asked, exposing his arm.

“It’s fine, Rodney,” Sheppard sighed.

Rodney felt the area with one hand, his expression intense. “It doesn’t look red or anything? I bruise very easily. It kinda hurts. Maybe I should get an ice pack out of the first aid kit.”

Sheppard didn’t look. “It’s fine. Let’s go. We need to get moving and get the others out of their tree.”

Rodney nodded as he jerked his sleeve back in place. “Yeah, give me a second. I just need a drink of water.”

“Why are the illusions silent?” Sheppard asked, gesturing to the rubble. “It seems that every hallucination machine we encounter manages to have sound.”

Rodney shrugged. “Hallucinations are more like dreams. You get to have all your senses. These are illusions – moving pictures. The technology was probably still in its infancy when the Ancients were working here.” He sat back, too, almost in the same position as Sheppard on the opposite wall of the corridor. “Think of it this way. If you had a film projector, you could place an image on any wall in a room, right? But the sound would always come from the projector. They hadn’t mastered the art of projecting the sound.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

“Of course it makes sense.” Rodney sighed and pulled his pack into his lap. “You know, if you’re going to knock me down every time you see a shadow, you should be blindfolded for the remainder of this little jaunt. I’m just sayin’. I can lead you.”

The colonel stiffed at the suggestion. “I’m not being blindfolded,” he said coldly.

Rodney lifted his head, his eyes blinking in Sheppard’s direction, and his expression seemed surprised, and maybe a little hurt. “Oh,” he said, and then went back to fiddling with his pack. He felt around for a moment before he brought out a water bottle, upside-down. He felt for the top, and up-righted it.

“I know I’m not helping much at the moment, but one of us should be able to see,” Sheppard said as he watched more of the horrible bugs skitter around the hallway. Damn, they were back. “Most of this is illusion, but maybe some of it is real. Can you totally trust those neon lines? You ever think that maybe they’ll give you false information, too?”

Rodney took a swig from the bottle. “I can trust the lines. They’re obviously much more reliable than you are at this moment.”

Sheppard couldn’t deny that.

“You know, maybe I’ve been thinking about this all wrong.” McKay paused. “Maybe this is more of a gift than a curse. And I’m doing pretty well with this Tron-vision now,” he stated. “And I know for damn sure that you couldn’t handle this,” He attempted to replace the water bottle, only to frown when he couldn’t fit it back inside the pack. Something had shifted into its place.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Sheppard said, unconvinced. “I could manage after a while.”

“Are you kidding? You’re a pilot! It’d drive you mad to be unable to see,” McKay responded. He felt around in the pack to see what was causing the trouble, and gave a curious expression. He pulled on something, and then let out a defeated sigh as he removed the rubber chicken from the pack again. “How many of these do you have?” he questioned as he threw it at Sheppard.

“Just the one.” John easily caught the lobbed plastic poultry. Rodney had gotten it relatively near the target. “And it’s yours. I gave it to you for your birthday. You shouldn’t keep throwing it out.” He bobbed the chicken head at McKay. “That’s not nice.”

“Stop putting it in with my stuff!” Rodney griped. “I’m having a hard enough time as it is. I can hardly manage finding my water bottle, so I don’t need any extra distractions. Can’t you figure out a better use of your time than to mess with me?”

“Not really. Here, let me give you a hand. We’ve got to get moving.”

When Rodney stretched out a hand, Sheppard couldn’t help himself, and he put out the chicken. When Rodney clasped the wattle and comb, a dark look came over him and he growled. “I hate you.”

“I hate you, too.” Sheppard returned with a smirk as he helped Rodney to his feet. “Now, let’s get this finished And he glanced about, trying to ignore the iratus bugs that crawled over everything, and managed to slip the chicken into another pocket of Rodney’s pack as the man got it settled.

Sheppard took a step, closing his eyes as he brought down one foot so that he could ignore the huge chunk of ceiling that blocked his path. His foot went right through it -- freaking weird.  
888888888888888888  
Teyla watched Ronon carefully. His hand stayed tightly clasped to the branch above his head, but his head was dipping. He had managed to partially bandage his wounds, but he needed better attention.

Ronon watched the circling cubbocks with a detached expression as he kept his weapon ready. He watched everything. 

She hurt. Her whole side ached and throbbed. The slashed wounds still seeped red onto her bandages, and most certainly needed to be treated. The cuts ached and itched and pulled painfully when she moved. She imagined Ronon felt just as bad, if not worse.

He had to be in pain, but she wondered if he even truly realized the fact. He was firmly set in his spot, and dedicated to his task. He never seemed to stop scanning the bog, even though the hand that gripped the blaster seemed to dip, and his shoulders sagged.

She wished again that she could find a way to get closer to him, but the trees were not close enough to make a jump from one to the other. She could attempt to get down and sprint to Ronon’s tree. She usually trusted his aim well enough to know he’d cover her, but his latest shots at the chubbocks had missed their marks, and she wondered if she’d make it in time.

She moved her hand to her radio as she considered contacting the others, and she let her hand stray. Rodney and John would be here as quickly as they could. She had no doubts. But what could either of them do once they arrived? With the jumper sinking, could they do anything to help?

Ronon turned toward her, realizing she was watching him, and grinned toothily as if this was all for fun. And then went back to watching the bog.

And she continued her vigil, watching him.  
888888888888888888  
They moved, and Sheppard tried to ignore what was happening around them. Wraith attacked. A wall fell in. Some sort of bat-like things flew at them. Another Wraith appeared from around a corner. They passed over a section of the hallway that had no floor. Sheppard had to grit his teeth and ignore it, letting McKay lead him blithely on, through walls, under low hanging bulkheads, and over the black abyss, and past another pair of Wraiths.

“Would you stop that?” McKay shouted at him.

“Better safe than sorry,” Sheppard responded, holstering his gun.

“Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to have a weapon suddenly fired near your HEAD?”

“Wraith,” Sheppard explained.

“But they don’t exist! It’s all an illusion. Teyla would have told us if any Wraith were here.”

“Sometimes her Wraith senses aren’t as sharp as other times.”

“They couldn’t even get in here if they wanted to. The place is locked up, remember? Only someone with the ATA gene can get in.”

“Maybe there’s a back door.”

“There’s no back door.”

“Maybe they’re just lulling us into a sense of false security. You ever think of that?”

“What? Who? That makes no sense. Why would the Ancients do that? You’re seeing illusionary Wraith and you shoot at them every time!”

“Eh, you never know. Next time there might be something really there.”

“You’re putting holes in the walls. That’s not a good thing. Look!” He pointed to one of the walls and accurately found a hole. “The lines had been perfect, and now they’re all messed up for no good reason.”

“Might have been a Wraith.”

Rodney sighed out of exasperation, and Sheppard kept ready. They made their way down the endless crazy world corridors, and turned another corner.

“Ah…Great! Just great!” Sheppard hissed as he caught sight of their next piece of heaven.

“What? What now?”

“Remember that energy creature?”

Rodney stiffened at the mention. “You’re kidding me?”

“Yeah, there’s a big blobby sitting at the end of the hall. Just an illusion, right?”

“Is it sitting there?”

“Well, hovering, or floating or whatever a big cloud of angry would do. I’m getting seriously tired of this.”

“Does it really look angry?”

“It’s a big black cloud that’s moving toward us. Of course it looks…”

“It’s moving now?” Rodney asked, his voice getting high.

“It’s just an illusion, right?”

“Well, yes, probably. SHHH! Do you hear it?”

“I don’t think it makes a sound, Rodney,” Sheppard said, drawing them both back a few steps as the big black cloud inched toward them.

“God, I hate energy creatures.” Rodney shuddered. “Just an illusion.” And he stalled Sheppard’s steps, to move them forward again, ducking his head and grimacing as if he expected to be struck at any moment. He clutched at his chest as if the personal shield was still in place.

Sheppard went with him, keeping a tight grasp of Rodney’s arm. He tried not to react as they approached the cloud, but he tensed, which caused Rodney to tense and ask in a tight voice, “We’re there now, aren’t we?”

“It’s not real, Rodney,” Sheppard reminded.

“Right.” Rodney seemed to steel himself, and then said, “Here we go.”

Sheppard took a deep breath, and together they passed into the cloud. Rodney paused for only a moment, and then continued to guide them through the thing. Sheppard looked about inside the thing and wondered if the illusion was anything like the reality that Rodney had experienced. It was a weird sensation, and Sheppard tried not to think too deeply about it.

The scientist kept his head down as he kept asking quietly, “Are we through it yet?”

“Just about,” Sheppard replied glancing at the strange things that seemed to float within the creature. Electrical bursts flared, and he cringed involuntarily, which made Rodney flinch as well.

Finally, Rodney brought them around a turn and they stepped free of the creepy thing. 

“We’re out,” Sheppard announced.

“Thank God,” Rodney muttered.

Sheppard glanced behind them. The thing still hovered just outside their hallway, looking entirely unfriendly.

“Okay, good.” Rodney rubbed his hands as he turned his head about, seeming to examine their latest corridor. He smiled as he turned to Sheppard. “Well?” he said.

“Well, what?” Sheppard responded.

“I told you we’d make it to the Control Room,” McKay said, grinning widely, he spread his arms as if showing something off.

Sheppard regarded him skeptically. “Rodney,” he said. “It’s just another hallway – in an outpost full of empty hallways.”

“Au contraire,” Rodney chuckled as he stepped forward, dropping his hands to waist-level as if to being keying in commands at a console. “We’re here. Can’t you see it?”

Sheppard shook his head. There was nothing to see. He moved forward to stand beside Rodney and let out a pain-filled OOF as he ran into something.

“Careful!” McKay responded. “There’s sensitive equipment here.” He gestured. “Step back.”

Sheppard frowned, seeing nothing. But when he reached out a hand, there was definitely something there – a console, smooth and cool and real. He ran his hand along the invisible surface, marveling that he could feel buttons and some sort of toggle.

“Hey!” McKay snapped at him. “Are you touching things? If you’re touching things, stop it right now.” And Rodney swung out an arm to sweep him back, clobbering him in the chest.

Annoyed, Sheppard stepped back, while McKay gave him a chagrinned expression that was quickly replaced. “See what happens to people who start poking at things they don’t understand?” he stated.

Sheppard grimaced as he moved carefully away, putting out his hands in case another console made itself apparent. “Just get on with it,” he grumbled.

Rodney kept turning his head, seeing things that Sheppard could not. “Good idea.” He cracked his knuckles and said with a smile, “Now is when the real works begins."  
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“Ronon, Teyla, report,” Sheppard’s voice came over the radio, making Teyla jerk her head up.

“Colonel,” she replied sharply. “We are still… hanging in there.”

“Good. Glad to hear it. We just reached the control hallway and Rodney’s starting to tap into this system. Soon as we figure this thing out, we’ll shut down the shield. What’s the current situation?”

“Still in trees,” Ronon grumbled. His voice sounded deeper than usual as his head dipped.

“We are still surrounded by the creatures,” Teyla filled in. “There are many around us. It is difficult to keep an accurate count because they remain mostly beneath the surface.”

“Gotcha,” Sheppard replied. “You guys have any idea of how we’re going to get you out of there?” he asked, almost sheepishly.

Teyla sighed. “Not as of yet,” she told him.

“We’ll blast ‘em,” Ronon explained. “Don’t worry. We’ll get ‘em.” But his voice was thick and his head didn’t quite lift.

Teyla watched him with concern, keeping an eye on the arm that gripped the branch above. The hand remained firm in its position as if it had been adhered permanently to the tree.

“We’re going to get out of here as soon as we can,” Sheppard said.

“Have you found the device that would restore Rodney’s vision?” Teyla asked hopefully.

Sheppard let out a discouraged sound. “I couldn’t tell you if it was right in front of my face. We’re in a blank hallway. But, right now, it looks like Rodney’s playing ‘air keyboard’. I can’t see anything and I keep running into things.”

“Don’t worry about that right now,” Rodney stated. “I know exactly where the device is. We’ll shut down the shield, turn off the illusions, and then we can put our hands on the device. Once I've gotten control of this place, we’ll all have a safe place to hang out until Atlantis chimes in.”

“We still have to get them out of the trees, Rodney," Sheppard reminded.

“Oh, yeah,” Rodney responded. “What about C4? Can we use that to blow up some opossums?”

“You’d still have to get out onto the bog,” Ronon said. “It won’t be easy.”

Sheppard responded. “We’re getting out of here soon as we can. Once Rodney gets the system shut down, it will be a lot easier to move around in here,” Sheppard went on, sounding irritated. “If it’s not a gaping hole in the floor, it’s a Wraith, a swarm of iratus bugs or… great… now it’s a leopard.”

“A leopard?” Teyla repeated.

“Big spotted feline,” Sheppard said with a sigh. “And it appears to be stalking me.”

“There’s a cat?” Rodney asked, sounding pleased. “What’s it look like?”

Sheppard described, “A big, gray and white, spotty cat with huge feet and a puffed up tail.”

“It may be a tambire. They are native to this planet,” Teyla told them.

“Another fine illusion from our friend at Ancient-Mart,” Sheppard grumbled. “I’m getting sick of these things, Rodney.”

“Illusions can’t hurt you,” Rodney told him. “Now, just sit there nice and quiet, enjoy the kitty and let me work.”

And then Teyla heard a low feline growl come over the radio, a second of silence, and then a beleaguered, “Oh crap,” from Rodney.

“John?” Teyla called. “Rodney?”

But before she could get a response from either, Ronon fell out of the tree.

PART 11: KING OF MONSTERS

Sheppard drew his weapon and fired, but the leopard sprang away. It spun and darted back the way it had come.

“Stay here!” Sheppard shouted over his shoulder as he took off after the thing.

Rodney was left to shout a helpless, “Where is it? Where is it?”

Sheppard grimaced when he realized that the tambire had disappeared through the energy creature illusion. “Great,” Sheppard sighed as he stepped forward, carefully sticking his head into what should have been a fatal shock.

He looked one way, and then the other, but the leopard-thing was gone. So, he stood in the cloud-filled hallway, listening intently.

“Sheppard?” Rodney called. “Did you get it? Did it get away? What’s happening?”

“Shut up, Rodney!” Sheppard bit back. “I’m trying to listen!”

“Oh, sorry. I couldn’t tell.”

John walked a few steps in one direction, continuing his search.

“Do you know which way it went?” McKay whispered from the adjoining hallway.

“No!” Sheppard responded. “If I did, I’d be following it, wouldn’t I?” Damn it! Damn it! If the illusions weren’t bad enough now they had to deal with a real live big cat.

“Because, if it went to the left, it could circle around and come around the backside of this room,” Rodney stated. “I’m just sayin’ because that might be something to worry about, right?”

Crap. Sheppard turned around and stepped through the doorway to their ‘hallway’.

Rodney was looking toward him, his hands raised over an invisible console. His face was drawn with worry. “Sheppard?” he asked. “Are you there?”

And Sheppard’s gaze shifted toward the movement on the other side of the room. The cat was creeping in, its yellow gaze fixed on Rodney’s’ back. It had huge eyes and its long whiskers gave it a wise expression as it hunted its quarry. It would have its target in a moment.

Sheppard aimed, but Rodney was in the way of his shot.

“Duck,” Sheppard ordered.

Rodney instantly went down as the big cat leapt at him. John aimed, and fired, but something ricocheted and the cat kept coming.

Sheppard continued firing as the bullets scattered, never meeting their mark – and the leaping tambire stopped dead in the air, as if it had slammed into an unseen wall.

Almost comically, it let out a snort of surprise and tumbled to the ground, landing not far from where McKay stood.

Rodney had spun about, still crouched and covering his head, whimpering a quiet, “Don’t eat me. Don’t eat me!”

“It’s okay, Rodney. I got it. Or it got itself, or something,” Sheppard told him as he edged forward, feeling his way. He found the panel that had blocked his shot and the cat. It was a big, solid partition of some sort.

Rodney lifted his head and asked anxiously, “Is it dead?”

Carefully, Sheppard made his way around the invisible panel, groping his way until he reached the tambire. It lay on its side. Its head twisted and its mouth gaping. Its yellow eyes were open.

“Is it dead?” Rodney asked again.

“Yeah,” Sheppard responded. “I think so.” He touched it, finding the fur soft, and the body still warm. But the chest was still, and the eyes glazed.

He sighed as he sat back on his haunches. “Everything’s an illusion, huh?”

Rodney shook his head. “Everything should be an illusion.” He pointed vaguely in the direction of John and the creature. “I wasn’t expecting that.” His finger wavered around as he hoped to eventually point at the target.

“So, how did it get in here? There’s a shield protecting the door,” Sheppard reminded. He ran his hand over the cat’s body. It wasn’t emaciated. The thing wasn’t starving. He picked up one of its feet and examined the pads. They were muddy. It had been outside recently. “Maybe there’s a kitty door to this place.”

“That’s ridiculous,” McKay went on as returned to the console. “This place is secure.”

“It’s not secure, McKay,” Sheppard said. “We have proof.”

McKay frowned, and went back to poking at air as he manipulated the invisible console. Suddenly, he stopped and uttered an astonished, “I’m in! I’m in the system. Wow.” He lifted his head, looking around as if he were surrounded by fairies or something equally amazing, yet Sheppard saw nothing. “This is fascinating!”

“Great, can you shut down the shield so we can get Ronon and Teyla out of their tree?”

“Yeah, yeah. Let me work.”

Sheppard keyed his radio, and called, “Ronon, Teyla, what’s your status?”

The radio crackled, and Teyla’s distressed voice was heard, “John, please respond. We are in danger. We are no longer in the trees and I don’t believe Ronon will be able to climb again.” There was blaster fire, and the sound of the P90 going off. “There are many of the chubbocks surrounding us. We require immediate assistance.”

Rodney froze, his mouth open as he heard those words. “We have to help them,” he muttered. “We have to go,” and he turned toward one end of the hallway, holding out his hand. “Come on!” he said as he flipped the hand at Sheppard. “Let’s go! I don’t know how long it’ll take us to get back out and I have no idea about what we’ll do to help them, but we’d better hurry.”

Sheppard stared at the leopard-thing and then reached out. He could feel the solid object that had killed the creature, even though he could not see it, even though the tambire never saw it either.

Animals could see the illusions, too.

“Can you create your own illusion with that control console?” Sheppard asked, nodding to the invisible device.

“Well, yeah, probably,” Rodney said, inching his way down the hallway, his hand still outstretched for Sheppard to grab. “It’ll probably require a mental connection.”

“Can you project the illusions outside this complex?”

“Yes, of course. That was the whole point of the experiment,” Rodney returned. “What good would the illusions be if they were contained within a hidden lab?”

Sheppard stood, grinning and found his way around the partition. “Rodney, have I got a job for you.”  
888888888888888888  
“Teyla, hang tight,” Sheppard's voice came over the radio as she fired at another chubbock. It flinched and dove away.

“We are hanging on as best we can,” Teyla replied.

Beside her, Ronon leaned against the tree, holding his torn shoulder with one hand, as he fired his blaster with the wounded arm. They were on the ground, and Teyla knew that in spite of their firepower, they wouldn’t last long– not when the creatures kept coming.

“We’ve got some reinforcements. You’re just going to have to help drive.”

Teyla frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You ever hear of a scarecrow?” Sheppard asked.

She couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “Yes, we have such things in this galaxy.”

“Here comes our newfangled version,” Sheppard told her. “We won’t be able to hurt the things, but maybe we can scare your bog beasts away. Okay, Rodney, do it.”

And then, out of nothing, a horrible lizard materialized near the cliff, floating just over the bog. It stood upright and flailed its forelegs. Huge, jagged dorsal plates ran down its back. Its skin was bumpy and the color of charcoal. Its eyes seemed to glow in a head that was strangely disproportionate with the rest of its body. It moved in a jerky motion that seemed altogether wrong.

It looked familiar, and Teyla was fairly sure she’d caught a glimpse of the thing on a DVD during monster movie night.

Ronon let out a soft laugh and said, “Godzilla.”

Teyla narrowed her gaze at the strange lizard that silently moved its arms like a man in a rubber suit.

“You’re kidding me,” Sheppard said over the radio, the words obviously meant for McKay. “Godzilla?”

“You said ‘big and scary’. What’s bigger and scarier than Godzilla?”

“I don’t know, you could have made a giant tambire leopard, or an even bigger possum. I might have made more sense, considering the planet’s normal inhabitants.”

“I have no idea what those things look like!” McKay snapped back. 

“Yeah, sorry. Forgot about that.”

“I could try to imagine a giant lizard-controlled killer robot named ‘Stan’, but I have a pretty good picture of Godzilla in my head, so that’s what you get! Next time, maybe you'll get Jaws.”

The big lizard stopped in place, and gestured emphatically with its arms when Rodney spoke. One of the chubbocks saw the thing. It froze and let out a high-pitched squeal. The others, alerted, froze as well, to stare up at the strange menace that loomed over them.

“They have seen it,” Teyla announced. “It seems to be working.”  
“You got ‘em scared,” Ronon said happily.

“Okay, good. Ah, which way do I go? Come on, I need some help here,” McKay whined over the radio as the monster started to thrash.

“Forward, move it forward,” Ronon told him.

And Godzilla staggered forward, floating about three feet over the top of the bog.

“Down,” Ronon said, blinking heavily. “It’s too high.”

And they watched as the big lizard descended slightly and moved forward, slashing its tail and waving its arms menacingly. It opened its mouth and fatal-looking fire shot out.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters, strode forward and the bog beasts cowered.

“How am I doing?” Rodney asked over the radio, his voice sounding strained. “Does it look okay? “Are they leaving, ‘cause… God!”

“Hang in there, Rodney. Ronon! Teyla! Is it working?”

"It is working," Teyla responded. The chubbocks were falling back, moving away from the bizarre creature that lurched through their bog. They hissed and gave way.

“Looks good, McKay,” Ronon pronounced. “Move it a little left. Do more fire.”

The chubbocks cringed as the thing continued to march about in their bog. Godzilla, unleashed in the swamp, put up a show. It clawed and threw back its head. Its tail slashed as it stomped. More fireworks shot out of its mouth.

Ronon sat back against the tree and laughed, watching the creatures scurry from the mutant dinosaur.

“Continue forward,” Teyla told Rodney as the creature stomped. “Turn slightly to the left.”

“Okay,” McKay said, his voice even quieter, and the image of Godzilla did as was requested, with more flames flying from its mouth.

The chubbocks ducked and ran and splashed and disappeared. Within a matter of minutes, the bog seemed to have cleared itself of the creatures. Neither frog nor bird dared to appear either. They were gone.

Ronon fired his blaster after them, giving them further reason to run. He grinned when Teyla looked toward him and he uttered a satisfied, “That was fun.”  
888888888888888888  
“Are the bog possums gone?” Sheppard asked urgently over the radio as he kept his eyes on Rodney.

“Yeah. Don’t think they’ll stop running for a while,” Ronon told him. “You scared them good.”

Thank God, Sheppard thought, and not a moment too soon. “You guys all right out there?” Sheppard asked.

“We are fine for now,” Teyla told him. “But we need to return to Atlantis.”

“Yeah, gotcha,” Sheppard responded. He turned to Rodney, and ordered, “Shut it down!”

Rodney leaned heavily on the concealed control panel. His eyes were closed and his face drawn up in a pain-filled grimace that had grown with every passing moment. Sweat ran down his face at the strain of keeping the thing running. He trembled.

“Rodney! Shut it down!” Sheppard insisted, grasping Rodney’s arm and giving him a shake for good measure. “Now!”

The contact seemed to wake Rodney and he lifted his head. His face was pale as he turned toward Sheppard.

“Now!” Sheppard said again.

“Okay,” Rodney replied quietly. And he blinked rapidly for a moment. “It’s off. I shut it off.” And some of the exertion seemed to leave his face, but he shuddered. “That was harder than I thought it’d be,” he whispered and fell sidewise onto Sheppard.

John caught him, and quickly lowered him to the ground. McKay’s eyes were closed and his expression remained taut. Sheppard pulled the pain meds out of Rodney’s pocket. “Hold out your hand,” he ordered as he grasped hold of Rodney’s wrist and turned the hand into position. He dropped a pair of pills into his palm, and then unzipped Rodney’s pack to find his water bottle. He paused a moment when he saw the rubber chicken again, but decided to give McKay a break.

Wordlessly, Rodney took the meds and washed them down with a grimace. That done, he lifted a hand to his head and grumbled, “Why does everything have to hurt my head?”

“It’ll go away,” Sheppard promised as he replaced the bottle. He just hoped he was right.

They had to get out, and how would they do it? Rodney seemed unable to even stand at the moment and Sheppard doubted that he could find the way out without Rodney’s help.

He didn’t completely understand how Rodney had formed the illusion of the Japanese superstar, but it was obvious that the mental connection came with a cost. He hated the Ancients a little more.

What the hell were the Ancients thinking? No wonder they abandoned this pile of crap. What good was it to blind a man and then nearly kill him by using the machine for five minutes?

They had to get home. They had to find the device to fix Rodney's eyes before they could use the Gate. And then there was Ronon and Teyla, injured and still in the bog. They had to get back to them immediately.

“Can you shut down this machine?”

“I already turned off Godzilla.”

“Shut down the whole thing.”

Rodney needed Sheppard’s help to stand, and John tried not to be concerned about how weak Rodney seemed to be. They moved carefully, aware that an unseen console was above them. Sheppard had no intention of ramming either of their heads into the underside of the thing, especially after what’d happened to the leopard.

Once standing, Rodney reached out and seemed to touch something, and the room started to shimmer. Sheppard looked in disbelief as the bare walls melted away, revealing a vaulted ceilings and ornate walls, and the console that McKay had used. Everything transformed. The colors changed from dull gray to warm browns. The narrow hallway expanded into a room with several large consoles and partitions, all of it in the elegant Frank Lloyd Wright style of Atlantis.

Hallways led from the room in all directions, and gentle light glowed from fixtures above. The floors were tiled in graceful patterns and panels glowed warmly all around them.

It was pretty, which made the now-gone illusions even more annoying.

“I think it’s off,” Rodney said as he leaned on the console.

“Yeah, you got it,” Sheppard told him.

“Good,” Rodney sighed and tried to slide to the floor.

“No, you don’t!” Sheppard caught him, and wrapped one of Rodney’s arms over his shoulder. “Not now, Rodney. We’re getting out of here.” He paused and looked about the room. “Rodney, where’s the fix-it machine.”

“What?” the scientist responded softly.

“The device that’s going to fix your eyes. Where is it?” John asked firmly. Now that he could actually ‘see’ the room, he scanned it, trying to find a device that looked like it could fix blindness. Should there be a picture of eyes staring out from it?

“It’s by the entrance,” Rodney responded, his voice drifting. “Saw it when we came in.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Sheppard asked, exasperated.

“You were whining rather loudly about the bright lights at the moment. I was trying to get you out of there. We’re going to use it on the way out.” His voice became softer as he said, “God, my head hurts.” And he slid down a little further.

“You’re not going to sleep on the job!” Sheppard told him. He touched his radio, and said, “Teyla, Ronon, can you make it to the entrance of this place?”

“Yes,” Teyla responded. “Now that the chubbocks are gone, we should be able return to that site.”

"The shield is down. You should be able to get inside. We’ll regroup at the entrance. Sheppard out.” 

And now, he just had to get Rodney out of the place, but he frowned as he looked at the series of hallways. The complex seemed entirely different with the illusion machine shut down. He was fairly sure which doorway had been their entrance to the room, but he wasn’t certain.

“Which way?” he asked Rodney, but McKay made a soft whimpering sound and his head came to rest against John’s shoulder.

“Give me a couple minutes, okay?” Rodney said. “That thing really did a number on my head.”

Damn it, Sheppard thought.

And then his eyes fell on the dead tambire, just barely visible behind a partition. It was the only real thing he’d seen during their journey. How did the leopard get in here? A kitty door? And he saw the tracks it had left on the pretty tile floor.

PART 12: SUNLIGHT

Sheppard kept moving, hauling Rodney along with him as he followed the tracks. He could make out older tracks, dried on dirt amid the newer muddy prints. The cat had been here before. The cat knew the layout. The cat knew the way in – the footprints were fresh. It had been outside recently. It would get him out faster than he could on his own.

“How you holding up?” Sheppard asked, just because he hated the silence.

“Oh, I feel marvelous,” Rodney hissed. "Can't you tell from the singing and dancing?"

“I thought you turned everything off. Didn’t that help?” Sheppard asked.

“Lingering effects, I guess.” Rodney’s free hand seemed permanently plastered to his forehead as he kept the other draped over a John’s shoulder. 

They kept moving.

The tambire had probably learned its way through the funhouse the same way any cat found its way through blackness, by using its whiskers. It must have been too excited by the sight of an ‘easy kill’ and forgot about the illusions when it ran into that wall. Sheppard felt a little sorry for the creature.

But then he remembered what the ‘easy kill’ had been, and he didn’t feel sorry at all.

The path was relatively straight, compared to their twisting entrance, and Sheppard hoped that they weren’t making their way deeper into the complex. He hoped they didn’t end up in some horrible leopard’s lair, facing down a whole family of the creatures.

The tracks were fresh. They had to lead to the outside.

They kept walking. Rodney seemed to be getting better, letting Sheppard tug him along. They needed to find the others and get home – now. When Rodney slowed, Sheppard reminded him that they didn’t know what shape Teyla and Ronon were in, and they moved faster.

And the quality of light seemed to change in the hallways. Sheppard quickened his step, taking Rodney with him. Yes, there was sunlight! Definitely sunlight!

He kept them moving into the next room, beneath the next ceiling, and he looked up. Above them, daylight streamed in. Some time ago, part of the wall must have caved in and part of the cliff broke away, exposing the hole big enough for a leopard, and big enough for a man to climb through.

“We’re almost out of here,” Sheppard promised as stepped beneath the hole, so that daylight streamed down on them, and reached for his radio. “Ronon, Teyla?” he called. “Change of plans. We’re going to need some rope.”  
888888888888888888  
When Sheppard dropped the rope and finally scrambled through the hole out of the underground complex, he had to admit that it was good to be back at the bog.

He’d had enough of underground Ancient crazyhouses and was pretty damn happy to see the ‘real world’ again.

Ronon sat down with a groan beside Teyla. Rodney lay on his back with his faced turned toward the sun. From the looks of things, they were on the same path they’d used earlier, a little further along and just above where the jumper remained swamped.

Ronon was bandaged from his knee to his ankle and across his shoulder, but the wrappings were already spotting with red. Teyla looked equally injured at her hip and along one arm. They’d probably used every last dressing in Ronon’s pack. They looked bad, and had apparently patched themselves up enough to be mobile.

But they needed the infirmary.

Rodney was still pale and weak from using the machine.

As much as he hated leaving his team at that moment, Sheppard knew there was little choice. “I guess this means I’m walking.” He stared over the bog, calculating how far he’d have to go through the soupy, monster-infested swamp to reach the Gate. It would take a while.

“Chubbocks are still out there,” Ronon reminded. “Probably not a good idea to go unless you have Godzilla with you.”

“Did you bring the technology?” Teyla asked.

“We’re going to have to come back to check that out that later,” Sheppard said. “And nobody’s going to using that piece of crap again if I have any say in the matter. Rodney, how’re you feeling?”

“Like I want to die,” Rodney groaned.

“This might make him feel better,” Ronon said, and he pointed to a device beside the trail -- a breadbox sized monitor.

Sheppard wasn’t sure what to make of it. Rodney turned toward it and uttered a quiet, “Oh!”

Sheppard glanced a question to Teyla.

“It is a match to the one that changed his vision,” Teyla explained. “We found it just inside the entrance to the complex.”

“It was portable, so we brought it with us,” Ronon continued.

“Portable?” Rodney voiced. “Why would they make it portable?”

“We kinda made it portable,” Ronon returned gruffly. “Broke off easily enough.”

Rodney winced at the description.

“Didn’t hurt it,” Ronon promised, but he looked toward Sheppard and shrugged.

Sheppard frowned as he looked at the device. “It better not be broken.”

“It’s not,” Rodney told him, turning his head again to take in the sunlight.

“See,” Ronon responded.

“This will fix your eyes?” Sheppard asked, pointing at the thing.

“Should,” Rodney responded.

“Then, let’s go!” Sheppard stated. “Fire it up!”

“We should think about it first,” Rodney said. He sat up slowly, his forehead wrinkled. “Until we know how we’re getting out of this place, we’d better hold off. This vision might come in handy again. It’s been pretty handy so far.” He smiled and said, “My head feels a lot better.”

“Right,” Sheppard replied. “But we’re zapping you before we try to use the Gate.”

They had to get out of here and to the infirmary. Sheppard wasn’t sure if he could make it to the Gate if he walked, what with the angry bog beasts out there. The only decent means of escape was half-sunken in the mud.

Sheppard stared at the jumper, annoyed at himself for allowing this to happen. He should have found a better place to set it down. He could have even turned on the shield when they landed -- that would have kept them from ruining the engines in the mud.

John sat up slightly.

The shields might have saved them.

“McKay,” he called. “Rodney! What would happen if I turned on the jumper’s shields? Can I use it to free the drive pods?”

“The engines are fouled,” Rodney grumbled. “They’re not going to work when they’re jammed full of mud. But…” And Rodney’s expression changed as he thought. Then a grin spread.

“But ‘what?’” Sheppard asked feeling that old excitement that grew every time he saw that smile.

“There’s a self cleaning system,” Rodney stated. “It’s designed to clean out debris. You know, dust and what-not. It should work on the mud. Might have to crank it up a few notches and turn off safety protocols. If we fire it up when the shield is on it might… well, we might fry everything, but…” and he seemed to get stronger as he sat up and his mind wheeled. “…I think I can make it work.”  
88888888888888888  
The return to the jumper included a trek through the bog, but the chubbocks failed to show themselves, perhaps still wary of the mutant lizard. Luckily, the jumper hadn’t sunk any further. It was still jammed butt-down in the mud with the rear hatch partially open.

Once they were able to open the hatch again, they found that at least a foot of mud covered the rear portion of the vehicle, but the angle of the descent had kept the intrusion to a minimum. The cockpit was virtually mud free.

The four moved carefully, aware that their added weight might shift the craft’s position, and send it deeper into the bog, but the jumper had apparently dipped as deeply as it could at the moment, and it remained in place.

A short, loud conversation took place as to whether or not the ‘eye fixing’ device should be used immediately. It ended with Rodney’s reminder that he could see the jumper with greater clarity than ever before and the last time he’d been exposed to the ‘eye changer’, he’d been rather useless for anything for some time afterward.

They needed him to do the tricky work of getting the drive pods working again -- end of argument.

So, with Rodney still blind and in the copilot seat, they fired up the shield.

It was a strange sensation as the jumper rose out of the mud, a drifting, rising experience as the shield pushed them upward until the jumper was fully lifted about the surface.

They sat on the surface of the mud like a bubble in a bath.

Sheppard kept the jumper at a tilt until the majority of the accumulated mud had run out the back, and then once that was clear, he sealed the rear hatch, and managed to level off the jumper.

“You know, this place still reeks,” Rodney muttered.

“Yeah, I’ll put a crew on that,” Sheppard responded. “What do we do now?”

“Checking,” Rodney said, his eyes darting as if taking in information all around him. “Okay,” he said. “Good. I can do this.”

Then he leaned forward and keyed in a rapid series of commands.

The shield shook, vibrating the whole ship.

“What’s going on?” Sheppard asked, his hands hovering over the controls, ready to take over.

“Just… just hang on a second,” Rodney told him, grinning as the vibration continued and the shield around the ship shimmered. “Okay, okay. That’s better.” And the shield returned to its normal behavior.

“What did you do?” Sheppard asked.

“Oh, I was just shaking out the mud that had accumulated inside the shield,” Rodney told them. “Osculated the frequency a little.” He continued to smile. “We had a lot of mud stuck in here with us and I just let it run out.”

“And the drive pods?” Teyla asked from behind him.

“Still mucked up.” Rodney blew out a breath. He worked a few more controls and the HUD came up, showing the ship and the shield. “I’m going to have to expand the shield a bit,” he said. “The more room we have within the shield, the better chance we have of not blowing up when we run the cleaning system. Seriously, this is probably not the best idea, but what other choice to we have, huh? I mean, the jumpers aren’t even supposed to have shields, so I doubt the Ancients ever figured that someone would try to use the cleaning system like this.”

“Maybe we need to rethink this,” Sheppard stated. “We can set down and shut down the shield. I can try firing up the cleaning system before we start sinking again before we have to re-engage the shield.”

“We’ll sink immediately,” McKay told them. “The bog has already been churned up beneath us and the pods will always be in the mud. We can’t move the ship to firmer ground without the pods operational.”

“Okay,” Sheppard bargained. “We’ll land. You three will get out and I will try firing the system with the shields up. Or maybe the three of you could push the shield jumper over a few feet while the shield is on. It'll float on the surface, right?”

Rodney made a face. “It won’t work that way! And I kinda doubt that either of them want to get up again.” He jerked a thumb in Ronon and Teyla’s direction. “We need to get them home.”

Sheppard looked to the others. Ronon gave him a glance that seemed to say he was fine, but Teyla shot the Satedan a concerned look. They had to get out of here.

“I can do this,” Rodney stated emphatically. “I mean, normally it would be tricky trying to judge the threshold of the shield against the energy output of the cleaning system, but I’m tapped in. I can see it all.” He smiled openly at Sheppard. “It’ll be a piece of cake.”

Sheppard sighed, and sat back. “Fine,” he declared.

McKay’s smile increased as his hands flew over the controls again.

They rose further and the HUD showed the expansion of the shield. The drive pods extended, but the HUD showed them as ‘dark’ – un-operational.

“Here we go,” McKay declared. He glanced toward the others, smiling still, but a little less confidently. “This should work.” And he continued working at the console.

Then the image of drive pods on the HUD started to glow yellow, then red. And the alarms started to go off.

“Rodney,” Sheppard called.

Ronon sat forward in his chair, ready to pounce on something, in spite of his wounds.

“What’s happening, McKay?” Sheppard growled.

“I’m expelling the mud from the drive pods! It’s like a self-cleaning system on an oven. You ever use one of those? The idea of it freaks me out a bit. I always think that the house is going to burn down if the oven starts smoking.”

Sheppard’s eyes were on the HUD, watching as the drive pods flashed, as the image of the shield seemed to throb. Around them, the usually transparent shield took on orange glow. “McKay, this isn’t looking good,” Sheppard said. “The alarms are...”

“I am fully aware of the alarms,” McKay replied as his hands flew over the controls. “I can hear, can’t I?”

The HUD image took on more reds, more yellows. Different parts of the jumper depiction were flashing in a way that spelled nothing-but-trouble. The jumper started to shimmy. The shield wavered. Sheppard gripped the arms of his seat, splitting his attention between Rodney and the HUD. Behind him, Ronon and Teyla sat up, tense and ready for anything.

“Almost there,” Rodney muttered. “Almost…”

There was a loud POP and a crackle and one of the crystal panels in the rear of the jumper burst open. The HUD burst into a rainbow of color, smoke billowed outside and the shield around them glowed red, then dropped. The jumper lurched.

They plummeted nose-first toward the bog.

Instinctively, John reached forward, grabbed the controls and pulled the jumper upright until it soared above the bog as he let out a shout of surprise.

“Ha!” McKay exclaimed, looking pleased. “Did it!” He turned his smirk on those in the back. “Told you.”

“I had no doubts,” Teyla responded, settling back in her seat.

Rodney frowned and turned toward Sheppard. “Is she serious, because I can’t tell.”

“She’s serious,” Sheppard responded as he experimented with the controls of the jumper. It seemed a little sluggish, but it was reacting. Thank God. They were going home. Just one thing to do first.

Sheppard brought the jumper up, climbing to the top of the cliffs. Then he turned in his seat to regard his companions. Teyla and Ronon were cut and mangled. Their bandages were in definite need of replacement and both would need bed rest, antibiotics and a dozen or so stitches before the day was done. Rodney was sitting forward in his seat, looking so content he might be about to burst into song.

Sheppard gave the ground a careful examination before he brought the jumper down on the solid rock, and shut down the systems.

“Hey!” Rodney responded. “Why are we landing?”

“We’re going home,” Sheppard said. “And there’s something we need to do first.” He nodded to Ronon. Ronon one-handedly picked up the device that would repair Rodney’s vision. It was high time they used the thing.

“Oh,” Rodney said, apparently seeing what Ronon had retrieved. “You know, it may be a good idea to leave me like this for now,” he said quickly. “We need to do more research on the illusion machine and it would probably be best if someone was able to utilize the machine fully and the only way one can manage the equipment is to have their vision changed and since I am already set up and used to it, it would be a shame to…”

“Rodney,” Sheppard said sharply, cutting him off. “We’re going home. Ronon and Teyla need to get to the infirmary, now. We’re going through the Gate.”

“Yeah, the Gate,” Rodney said with a grimace. "Maybe we can figure something out. Look, maybe I don’t have to go through. I could camp out here for a while, right?”

“We are not leaving you behind,” Teyla said as she sat forward in her seat.

Ronon shoved the device at Rodney, giving Sheppard a glare that told him that he wanted the colonel nowhere near the thing.

If an ATA gene activated it, Sheppard had no business touching it.

“You know, I shut down the entire illusion device,” Rodney said. “It was jamming the Wraith’s ability to project images. They’ll be able to do it again. I need to figure out how to turn that particular aspect back on before we do anything.” And he waved a hand at his eyes.

“I’ve lived with their illusions before,” Ronon said. “Can do it again.” He sagged back into his seat, waiting. “Just do it, McKay,” Ronon said.

“Rodney, they don’t have time,” Sheppard said. “I know you can’t see them, but Ronon and Teyla are pretty cut up. We need to get them home.”

Rodney turned toward where Teyla and Ronon were sitting. “Yes, yes. I’ll do it.” He pulled the thing into his lap. “You know, maybe this thing give me back my regular vision but I’ll get to keep this other stuff.” And he grinned hopefully at them.

“Might happen,” Sheppard said.

Rodney looked toward Sheppard and said, “Sheppard, it’d probably be best if you left the jumper when this thing goes off. No sense in ruining your vision temporarily again.”

“I’m not leaving, Rodney,” Sheppard said. “I’m thinking Ronon and Teyla are staying put, but I’ll move to the back of the jumper.” And then he added with a snide tone, “If that will make you happy.”

“Ecstatic,” Rodney said sarcastically. “I don’t hear you moving. Come on, chop chop!”

Sheppard stood and made his way past the others and into the rear of the jumper.

“We should probably lower the bulkhead door,” Rodney stated offhand.

“Just leave it, Rodney,” Sheppard told him as he moved into position. “We can’t wait any longer. I’ll look away. That worked just fine last time.”

“Seriously, Sheppard, get out of the cockpit,” Rodney cried. “I can tell you’re looking in here!”

“I’m out!” Sheppard responded and he turned away, hating that he couldn’t see what was happening. “Jeez!”

“Ronon and Teyla, you have to look away, too. I can’t see if you’re doing it, so… you know. Just keep your eyes shut and don’t look over here.”

“We are doing so,” Teyla said, reassuringly.

“Go for it,” Ronon added.

“Now, Rodney,” Sheppard stated as he stared into a corner of the jumper.

Rodney said, “Okay,” again – his voice very low – and then the jumper filled with white light.  
PART 13: SEEING  
He was aware of voices, talking softly near him, the smell of antiseptics, and the sensation that he was laying on sheets of inferior thread count. It was itchy stuff and he wondered why nobody ever did anything to fix the situation.

Seriously, they deserved better.

There was the quiet beep of a monitor near him. His mouth was dry and tasted like old socks. There was a tugging at his skin – tape against his arm, an IV.

He smelled what might have been breakfast – pancakes, syrup, bacon. The clink of flatware against a plate.

Ronon was laughing. Teyla said something smug, which quieted the Satedan and made Sheppard laugh instead.

Blackness. It was weird to see total blackness again. He was used to seeing the long glowing tubes of light that outlined everything Ancient. He should be able to see something, for certainly he was in the infirmary, in Atlantis.

He tried. He tried to find the lines again, the neon glow that had showed him so many details and outlined the secrets of Atlantis. He tried to push his vision out, as he’d done before, to fill his mind with the blueprint of his city.

But everything remained black – black and bleak and empty. He felt his breath catch slightly at this realization – it was gone.

The voices around him silenced.

Ronon said, “He’s waking up.”

Sheppard said, “It’s about time.” And Teyla softly called his name.

He kept trying to ‘see’, but there was nothing left. Come on, he thought. Come on, show me something!

Something touched his nose. He tried to ignore it as he concentrated, trying to force his vision to work. The thing came back. He considered swiping it away, but his hands felt heavy. It touched his nose a third time, and he opened his eyes.

The world around him was blurry, but filled with color, with light. There was shadow and hue and movement. He blinked to clear his vision and to focus at the thing that hovered just in front of his face.

It was beige and red and …rubbery looking.

And Rodney frowned when he finally focused on the rubber chicken, and then stared beyond it to Sheppard. “Get that thing out of my face!” he spat.

When his gaze met Sheppard’s, John broke into an open grin. Relief seemed to spread over the colonel's face and he said something ridiculous about the chicken, but Rodney wasn’t really listening as he changed his gaze, turning his head to see Teyla in a bed on one side of him.

Her arm was bandaged and she smiled at him with that same expression of relief and happiness. “How are you feeling, Rodney?” she asked softly.

Rodney took a moment to consider the question and answered. “Okay. I’m okay.” He squinted, seeing the extent of her injuries for the first time. "You..." he started, "You okay?"

She continued to smile. "Yes, I am fine."

“How’s the head?” Ronon asked.

Rodney needed to turn his head the other way to see Dex, catching a glance of Sheppard who continued to hold the stupid chicken on him. Ronon was on his other side, in another bed. The Satedan was bandaged as well, but looking as if he was tired of the infirmary. His half-finished breakfast still sat in front of him. 

When McKay didn't answer him, Ronon poked at his own head. "Headache?"

“Oh, yeah. Uh, not so bad,” Rodney answered honestly. “In fact, I’m feeling pretty good.” He smiled a little. "I feel as if I can just get up and go back to work. I'm sure Zelenka has a thing or two that requires my attention."

“He was by to see you earlier,” Teyla said.

“He took himself off night shift,” Sheppard told him. “Since you were out of commission and everything, he figured he could make that command decision." John smirked, and then asked, “How many chickens am I holding up?” He waved the stupid thing back and forth.

Rodney finally found the strength to move and snatched the thing out of Sheppard’s hand. The colonel seemed strangely content with that. “I am so sick of seeing this thing!” Rodney snapped at him, shaking the rubber chicken at him. “Give it a rest!”

And Sheppard sat back in his chair, his smile not dipping yet. “So, I take it you can see again.”

Rodney let out a sigh as he looked around the room. The infirmary was as it had always been. “Yeah,” he said. He looked toward the others, not sure what he expected to see from them.

Teyla smiled warmly. “Rodney,” she said happily. “It must be wondrous to be able to see again. Are you suffering any difficulties? Dr. Keller was unsure if your vision would be entirely restored.”

“It’s good,” Rodney said, glancing around the room. “Everything seems fine. I can see.” He focused on one item, and then another, and then tried to see ‘beyond’ again, but his vision remained frustratingly limited to only what was directly in front of him.

“Something’s wrong?” Teyla asked.

Rodney shook his head. “I can ‘see’ fine, but I lost the other vision. It’s gone.”

Sheppard shrugged. Teyla didn’t look bothered by this fact. Ronon went back to eating.

Annoyed by their reaction, Rodney snapped, “This is important! I have lost a vital ability. It was very useful.”

“Useful?” Sheppard responded. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”

Rodney furrowed his brow. “You don’t understand. You aren’t the one who lost it.” He sighed dramatically. “It’s like they always say, ‘you don’t appreciate a good thing until it’s gone’.”

Now Sheppard seemed to get upset. “You can’t honestly tell me that you’d rather be stuck in the dark with those neon lines?”

“There was so much I could have accomplished,” McKay went on. “So much I could have discovered! To have it taken from me is… well… We still have that device, don’t we?” He looked at them hopefully. “With any luck I can reengage the ability and make full use of it this time. No more moping around! It just took a little while for me to get used to and then I was fine with it. I would have been just fine.” And he crossed his arms over his chest as he watched his friends.

Teyla looked confused and maybe even sympathetic. Ronon shook his head and continued eating. Sheppard’s expression was blank for a moment.

“That’s about enough,” Sheppard said.

“Enough?” Rodney responded. “I haven’t even started. Look, someone should get the device and fix me up again before I change my mind. I’m already used to the effects of it, so let’s get crackin’.”

Sheppard stood. “You’re feeling better?”

“Much,” Rodney said. “I’m feeling perfect.”

“Fine then,” Sheppard said. “Let’s take a walk.”  
888888888888888888  
Keller brought a wheelchair to the bed in case it was needed, but once Rodney was on his feet, he felt amazingly stable. The headache that has plagued him had disappeared.

And Rodney had forgotten about how pretty Keller looked. He watched her expressions change as she gave him a quick examination.

She seemed pleased. She seemed happy at the results of her tests. “His vision is back to normal,” she proclaimed. “Welcome back, Rodney.” And smiled so that her nose crinkled, then she cleared Rodney to take a walk. Rodney had to promise to return for further testing when Sheppard was done with him. And, if Rodney showed any sign of fatigue or pain, John promised to come back immediately.

Teyla wished them well. Ronon looked annoyed that they were able to go while he had to stay.

Sheppard and Rodney stalked down the hallways of Atlantis. They moved side by side as Rodney glanced about, seeing the city as if for the first time again.

It was beautiful.

He’d never been that interested in the aesthetically pleasing aspects of anything, but as they roamed down the hallways, he couldn’t help notice how much thought had gone into the ‘look’ of the place. The details were astonishing.

They passed people on their way, and Rodney actually paid attention to their faces, surprised that he remembered so many of their names. He was always so bad at picturing faces and putting names to them. Most people even smiled at him.

They kept moving, not talking, just walking along the familiar hallways of Atlantis. The path seemed unplanned, and yet McKay felt compelled to make a turn, and then another, until they emerged on one of the tower’s balconies.

It was a lovely day. The sun was shining. The breeze was easy.

Rodney moved forward, first taking in the freshness of the air as he leaned on the rail. He lifted his gaze and looked out at the panoramic view of the city. He took in the tall, graceful spires, the towers, the arches and high walkways. He deliberated the pretty geometry, the handsome structure. The composition looked random to an untrained eye, but to Rodney, it was perfection.

He tipped his head down and watched as waves crashed far below. The white spray seemed to form shapes like lace against the lower levels. He couldn't look away for several moments, watching the waves break and dance.

Slowly, he lifted his gaze. He knew every inch of the city. He could look across to the next tower and could rattle off the purpose of every room, every lab that was situated there, but now he just looked at it, appreciating the architecture, the beautiful symmetry.

Someone was moving along a gangway far across the city, too distant to recognize. She had long brown hair.

There was a jumper on the East Pier and a team of marines cleaned it, and Rodney realized it was the one they’d brought to the bog planet. It was filthy, and he smiled a little, watching the poor team that was assigned the responsibility. Strangely, they seemed to be enjoying the activity as they washed the jumper down on a sunny day. One large man doused a woman with a bucket.

Another group was playing some sort of game on an open space between towers. Rodney watched them scatter and come together, not understanding what they were doing, but it involved a ball and lots of movement. Rugby? Football? He couldn’t be sure. Maybe it was a game they'd made up themselves here in Atlantis.

A woman on a balcony was practicing yoga. A botanist was watering plants at an outside lab. A man was just sitting on a chair on one of the open decks, just looking out at the ocean.

He blinked and noticed a bird. It soared on the ocean breezes, hanging in the air between the towers as if suspended on a wire. It rose and fell and rose again without seeming to move its wings.

And then a cloud moved, and the light changed, throwing new shadows and making everything different.

He silently watched everything, taking it all in, aware that Sheppard was just standing beside him, watching as well. And he kept on watching.

THE END


End file.
